Yesterday, the highly discussed solar eclipse captivated America, as many looked up to the sky for a few seconds to experience a once-ish in a lifetime event. The moon wasn't the only thing throwing shade, however, as Netflix took to Twitter to humorously chastise subscribers about how streaming traffic was affected by the solar phenomenon:
It's really hard to say exactly how significant a percentage that is, considering Netflix rarely shares hard numbers regarding its viewership data (although outside analysis indicates it's super high), but considering only a small portion of the Netflix-obsessed world got to see the total eclipse, a 10% drop sounds pretty big.
Plus, the eclipse happened at a time where most folks are at work, school, and/or other important places. So this percentage might have been higher had it happened during a late afternoon when most people are home. The bigger question is, what were 90% of the people who weren't watching the eclipse watching on Netflix that they felt was more pressing?
Netflix really needs to dig in and find these answers, as many would surely love to hear they were watching something like Heroes, where the characters got their powers following just such a solar eclipse. Undoubtedly, some of those streams likely had to be another superpowered series, Marvel's The Defenders, which had plenty of noteworthy moments worth watching again even if someone had already binged it over the weekend.
While many responses to Netflix's tweet contained the unrelated "Bring back/renew X original series" discussions, a few responders were up front in admitting they opted to stream in lieu of witnessing the solar eclipse. In hindsight, the kind of response seen below sounds saner, if not necessarily more erudite, than wanting to rush outside and risk permanent eye damage for life to stare at the sun for a few minutes. So maybe the 10% of people who opted out of the usual stream time aren't nailing it for all of life's decisions. :
Then again, solar eclipses come and go quicker than Netflix's Disney partnership, and it's not like anyone who decided to take a break from streaming wasn't able to return to the same lineup they had hours before. Those curious as to what exactly those shows may be can visit our Netflix guide for more details, or those scorned by the streaming giant's tongue-in-cheek diss can opt to spend more time away from Netflix with more traditional television offerings on our fall premiere guide.
