Time. It's something you spend wisely, knowing you'll never get it back. And yet, may people don't think at all about time when they sit down to binge hours and hours of content on subscription streaming service, or at least don't see it as a waste. Recently, Netflix revealed its Quarter 1 earnings to shareholders in a report that notes about half a billion hours have been spent watching Adam Sandler's Netflix instant catalog. That's a lot of hours people are spending on goofy humor and fart jokes.
You read that correctly, half a billion-- with a "b"-- hours worth of Netflix bandwidth have been taken up by the man who gave us such films as Jack and Jill, Billy Madison, and 50 First Dates. Although he is still more known for the aforementioned films, the half a billion hours is actually just counting from the 2015 launch of The Ridiculous Six, the first of Sandler's movies for Netflix. I'm sure a lot of people are plunking down on their couches to watch a variety of different Netflix programs, but many of them are also spending their time on The Do-Over and other Adam Sandler Netflix titles. It makes it a whole heck of a lot easier to see why Netflix signed on for another four-picture deal.
The deal came just ahead of the release of the third Adam Sandler film, Sandy Wexler. At the time, it seemed a little bit early for Netflix to be signing on for more movies, but with the Q1 report, the picture becomes a whole lot clearer. It's also interesting that Netflix would even be listing the half billion hours number, as Netflix is notorious for keeping its lips tightly shut regarding how much people are watching any of its original programs and movies. Sandler is clearly an exception, here.
One could say that the longterm cultural impact that Adam Sandler has had on comedy has lead to such a milestone. After all, between the end of 2015 and today, there have been countless legacy titles of the Sandler milieu that have come and gone from the Netflix streaming line-up. But considering that The Ridiculous Six was at one point touted as the most watched title in its first 30 days of release, there clearly still seems to be a market for Sandler's hijinks on a digital platform. Not to mention the fact that the only old Sandler flicks on the platform right now are The Waterboy, Anger Management, and Big Daddy, so odds are a good number of the views represented in this figure come from the newer stuff to come down the pike.
The success of Adam Sandler's Netflix renaissance serves as a reminder of just how much of a disruptor to the moviemaking industry it has become. With its non-traditional revenue streams guaranteeing that the business doesn't have to worry so much about ticket sales versus budgets. Rather, the company has more to worry about with its subscriber base, which is the only thing holding the company back from signing Sandler to a lifetime production and distribution deal is its own internal measure of justifications. The number will likely jump from more than half a billion views, as the world can now enjoy Sandy Wexler, the latest of the Adam Sandler films to premiere on Netflix, which is now available for your viewing pleasure. To find out what else is coming down the pipeline, take a look at our Netflix premiere schedule.
