• Netflix has cancelled the popular animated series Inside Job, its creator has announced.
• Earlier this month, the company cancelled 1899 after one season, despite it debuting at number two worldwide on the streaming platform.
• Netflix could be cancelling TV series that don’t seem to maintain viewership, searching for binge-worthy shows and not raw numbers.

Once again fans of animated series on Netflix are given a reminder of why it is becoming increasingly difficult to become invested in a show on the streaming platform for any sizeable amount of time.

Today, Netflix quietly cancelled Inside Job, with fans only receiving official confirmation from its creator Shion Takeuchi, via their Twitter account.

I’m sorry guys, it’s true.💔#insidejob pic.twitter.com/MQZJ3S7gRD

— Shion Takeuchi (@shhhhhionn) January 9, 2023

“I’m heartbroken to confirm that Netflix has decided to cancel season 2 of Inside Job,” Takeuchi wrote, sharing that they believed main characters Reagan and Brett deserved a proper ending to their stories.

Inside Job’s first season was broken into two parts, with Part 2 released in November 2022. Between 24th and 31st October 2022, the show was watched for 21 240 000 hours worldwide, earning a spot as the 9th most-watched series on Netflix in that time period.

The show was renewed for a second season by Netflix in June 2022, and now it has been axed by the world’s most popular streamer with seemingly no explanation.

It joins nearly a hundred other Netflix originals killed by the platform since 2014. Some of which have been enormously popular, such as the Netflix Daredevil and Punisher series cancelled in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Earlier in January Netflix cancelled the mystery-science fiction show 1899 after just one season. The show was met with critical acclaim and enjoyed significant viewership, ranking at number two on Netflix’s Top 10 English shows three days after its release only dwarfed by the monstrous success of Tim Burton’s Wednesday.

Its cancellation was met with confusion among subscribers, citing its viewership numbers as a good enough reason for it be renewed. But Netflix looks at more than just raw viewership for reasons to renew.

According to a viewership graph on What’s Next on Netflix, 1899 peaked and then saw its viewership plummet.

In comparison, Wednesday has remained at number one on Netflix’ Top 10 English series since its debut in November.

Another metric that could be used by the streamer to decide whether a series is kept on or not is what is known as the “completion rate.” That is, the number of viewers that pick up the show and finish all the episodes. In other words, how binge-able is the series.

This was seemingly confirmed by Neil Gaiman in a conversation about the binge-ability of his Sandman series on Netflix.

It does, yes. Because they are looking at "completion rates". So people watching it at their own pace don't show up. https://t.co/62kdhvHoIC

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) August 21, 2022

“People watching it at their own pace don’t show up,” Gaiman tweeted.

Tom’s Guide used data from UK-based analytics company Digital I to show that 1899 had a massive drop in viewers after the first episode, with many deciding to watch something else before the screen flipped to episode 2.

Another example is the teen vampire drama First Kill, which according to Digital I, had a completion rate of only 43 percent of its total viewers. This means that most people decided to watch something else before the show’s conclusion.

Inside Job and 1899 may have befallen the same fate as First Kill. Simply, they weren’t binge-friendly enough. The question remains whether Netflix’ binge craze will lead to more long-term success.

In October last year, Netflix announced that it had exceeded its Q3 targets, adding 4.5 million new subscribers in Q4. Though this gain is offset by a recent spate of slow growth amid a highly competitive landscape with new streamers seemingly coming out of the woodwork.

The company has long claimed that its original content would be its main loyalty driver, but is its tireless search for binge-able series costing it paying subscribers? We’ll await the answer in Q1 2023.

[Image – Netflix]