Hello Everyone! My name is Elisa, I’m Italian and I’m a Web Marketing Consultant. And I am also a Netflix Addicted: I adore the Netflix Originals, especially “Orange is the new black”, “One day at a time” and “The Crown”.
In this article I’m gonna talk about a little new original Netflix series called “Everything Sucks!” and not just like a fan, but as the web marketing consultant as well, because this could be a nice case study for all. So let’s start from the beginning.
Welcome to Boring High
On February 16th Netflix launched a new sitcom called “Everything Sucks!”. Sets in 1996 in Boring (a real city in Oregon by the way), the show follows a group of friends in High School, navigating teenage-hood while trying to find themselves. The Main Characters are not the popular kids: we get to see the underdogs, the nerds, the losers.
Let me tell you: I’m a grown ass woman but I became obsessed with it. I don’t why. Maybe it was the nostalgia factor (I’m a 90s kid) or maybe it was because for once I really saw myself. There’s a scene in particular that really spoke to me. “That was me” I said, watching with tears in my eyes (I’m not saying which scene was to avoid spoilers). I was the underdog and the loser too, you know?
Then on April 6th, less than two months after the premiere, Netflix decided to cancel the show.
Wait. What?
What is a Netflix success?
As a rule Netflix doesn’t share its views numbers, so to understand the success of a Netflix Show I usually look at other things, like the numbers on Social Media or Google Trends or the quantity (and quality) of reviews.
I follow Netflix religiously. Not only because I’m a nerd and I like watching Tv Shows, but also because I’ve been studying Social Tv for years now and Netflix is in the area. On my Italian blog there’s a lot of articles about how Social Tv works and how Netflix is revolutionizing the panorama and the classical discourse.
Right now Netflix is producing a lot of new contents. At the beginning Netflix was the only streaming service, so it didn’t have competition. But now it has. The competition is getting stronger. Even Disney is going to have a dedicated streaming service and that means that Netflix will not longer have Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvels and all the contents of ABC Networks. New originals are the only way for Netflix to survive and beat the competition. But not all originals are the same.
I discovered “Everything Sucks!” because I saw the promo on reddit by luck. I actually didn’t like the promo, because I thought it was a lame rip-off of “Stranger Things”. Netflix did not promote the show at all. I live in Italy and right now I see “Lost in Space” posters at every bus stops and I see instagram ads everywhere and I just don’t care for “Lost in Space”: it’s not my thing, I‘m more a “The Crown” person. Before that Netflix did a big event in Milan for “Altered Carbon”. There was a big promotion also for “La casa de papel”. Right now, as I said before, there are a lot more Netflix originals than before, so it’s more difficult to make another “Stranger Things” success with word of mouth.
Soon after the premiere and the cancellation of “Everything Sucks”, two new originals debuted on Netflix. “On My Block” and “Alexa & Katie” got their renewal like a week after their premiere and we need to talk about them.
Everything Sucks VS On My Block VS Alexa and Katie
At the beginning of the article I said that Netflix doesn’t share ratings, but in my opinion “Everything Sucks!” is more popular than “Alexa and Katie” and really close to “On My Block”. Let’s talk about numbers, shall we?
Instagram Followers
Everything Sucks — 162k followers
On My Block — 364k followers
Alexa & Katie — 118k followers
Twitter Followers
Everything Sucks — 26.4k
On My Block — 118k
Alexa & Katie — 1956
Facebook Fan
Everything Sucks — 48.255
On My Block — 66.989
Alexa & Katie — 4034
Google Trends
Tv Show Time Followers
Everything Sucks — 187,125
On My Block — 62,149
Alexa & Katie — 30,672
Rotten Tomatoes
Everything Sucks — 90% Audience score
On My Block — 99% Audience Score
Alexa & Katie — 60% Audience Score
IMDB
Everything Sucks — 7.7
On My Block — 8.3
Alexa & Katie — 7.2
Alexa & Katie is not even close to the numbers of Everything Sucks and On My Block, but it has a second season: it got a renewal a week after the premiere. It’s clear “On my Block” is more popular than “Everything Sucks” but not by much. You can continue this thing. I’ve also look up the numbers of “One Day at a time” (which I love it soooo much) and they ain’t great, but they got a third season (thank God!).
(By the way I have nothing against On My Block or Alexa & Katie and I’m very happy for their fans)
#RenewEverythingSucks
After the cancellation fans were not happy. So, as often happens, there was a social media outcry. The #RenewEverythingSucks campaign started and it is still going more than three weeks later. I know. I’m one of the people that keeps on tweeting and let me tell you, I don’t like it. I hate it. I’m an adult. I should not doing this. And yet I am. The series ended on a cliffhanger and I hate cliffhanger (I was a Popular fan). It’s kinda fun being part of a fandom after all this time to be honest. But I’m going off topic.
After the cancellation fans put a banner by the Netflix Headquarters. They also sent Netflix more than 1500 Rings Pop (if you want to know why, watch Everything Sucks and you’ll understand). They are going to send soon 2000 pride flags and they have been tweeting and commenting no stop. The cast and the crew of “Everything Sucks!” are also tweeting and supporting the fans battle (I think they want the new season more than the fans actually).
In all of this, Netflix is being very quiet. A little too much for my taste. I now do strategy and SEO for the most part, but I worked as a Community Manager for years and what Netflix is doing is not right.
The Netflix Social Media Team should have guidelines to deal with a social media crisis (and yes, this is a crisis). It’s worse if you think that they had the same thing happen with Sense8 less than a year ago. One thing I know for sure: fans are not gonna stop especially because they are not being heard. Being ignored is somewhat worse than not having a new season of their beloved series.
(It’s not just the fans to be honest: the press is also calling out for Netflix to reconsider the decision)
After 3 weeks straight (almost 4 weeks now) of commenting and tweeting, other people are starting to lose patience and they are lashing out against “Everything Sucks” fans. And let me tell you: I know it’s annoying because I’ve been there for all the “Bring Winner Taco Back” campaign and I hated it, but if Netflix doesn’t intervene things are going to get uglier.
Hashtags don’t work. Or maybe they do?
“It’s cancelled. It’s over! Stop it!”.
In these past few days people keep writing that the #RenewEverythingSucks Campaign won’t work. Since I’m McQuaid and I’m always negative… I think Netflix probably won’t renew “Everything Sucks!” but fans outcry helped in the past. Futurama, Buffy, Take My Wife, Community, Sense8 were saved by the fans. And at this point what I really want is for Netflix to acknowledge the fans and doing something. Literally anything. Like “Thanks for the rings pop” or something. The silence is what really bothers me and the reason why I keep on tweeting.
(Also I must say I’m little disappointed in Netflix. Netflix presented itself as different. And yet it cancelled this series after just 10 episodes with a cliffhanger without giving it a chance, without even promoting it. In the end I know it’s all about money and we could talk about the power of queer fandom, but it needs a dedicated post)
I’m following this case closely because I care about it, but also because it is an excellent case study on Community Management (that in my very humble opinion Netflix is doing this wrong) and on Social TV. And I need answers tbh.
UPDATE
Netflix is deleting #RenewEverythingSucks comments on instagram. You know what’s Social Media N.1 Rule? YOU DON’T DELETE THE COMMENTS!
