The other day I opened Netflix planning to rewatch one of my comfort movie series ‘Twilight’, only to see a “Leaving Soon” tag pop up. I felt that mix of frustration, sadness, and mild panic we all get when our favourite movies or shows are suddenly disappearing.
Why does Netflix remove or cancel shows people clearly care about?
Every show or movie on Netflix costs money to keep around. As seasons continue, production gets expensive, actors want higher pay, sets cost more and marketing budgets increase. “Is keeping this show worth it?” This is cost-benefit analysis. If the show isn’t pulling enough new subscribers or keeping people from canceling, it doesn’t matter if it has a loyal fanbase (like me with twilight), it’s gone.
Netflix tracks when you watch, how long you watch, what you watch next and even when you pause. They use this to predict your “churn risk”, which is how likely you are to cancel if a show leaves. If data shows that people rant on social media about a show leaving but don’t actually cancel their subscription to Netflix, they feel safer pulling it.
For me and some of you, rewatching Twilight gives comfort, but for Netflix, the marginal utility of keeping it declines if it’s not pulling in new viewers. Their goal is to optimise the next hour you watch, which keeps you subscribed another month. If they predict that removing Twilight will push you to watch another Netflix original instead of leaving the platform, the opportunity cost of keeping it becomes too high.
This all connects to opportunity cost, a core economic principle. The money used to continue a show with declining returns could instead fund new projects that might attract a new and different audience. Keeping Twilight means Netflix can’t use that money to fund the next Stranger Things. With platforms like Disney+ and Prime Video introducing new movies and series constantly, Netflix needs every rupee to go toward content that keeps people talking and watching.
The sad part is, no matter how many times I rewatch Twilight now just for it to not leave Netflix, it won’t be enough for the algorithm to let it stay.
The Fiscal Factor 