Introduction
In the years leading up to 2020, Netflix was already a dominant force in the streaming industry, continually expanding its library with a mix of original productions and licensed content. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the streaming industry changed dramatically. With millions of people confined to their homes, demand for digital entertainment skyrocketed, making streaming services like Netflix a primary source of media consumption. This report explores Netflix’s content ecosystem before the pandemic, using a dataset of TV shows and movies available on the platform as of 2019. I aim to understand how Netflix’s pre-pandemic content strategy may have influenced its ability to meet the surge in demand during lockdowns. This analysis provides insight into trends that shaped the platform before COVID-19 and raises questions about how the industry adapted in response to the global crisis.
Inspiration
The dataset titled “Netflix Movies and TV Shows,” available on Kaggle, provides a comprehensive snapshot of the content available on Netflix as of 2019. It includes detailed information on over 10,000 titles, encompassing both movies and TV shows. Each entry in the dataset contains attributes such as cast details, directors, ratings, release years, genres, and more. This wealth of information enables an in-depth exploration of Netflix’s content strategy leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzing this dataset offers valuable insights into patterns of content addition and the platform’s strategic focus areas. For instance, previous analyses have highlighted Netflix’s emphasis on expanding its movie library, with a significant portion of its content comprising films. Additionally, the dataset reveals Netflix’s efforts to cater to diverse audience demographics through a wide range of ratings and genres. By examining the temporal distribution of content additions, one can observe trends in Netflix’s content growth over the years. Such analyses can shed light on how Netflix’s pre-pandemic content strategy positioned it to meet the increased demand for streaming services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Based on datasets, Kaggle provides several visualizations that illustrate Netflix’s content trends, including the platform’s growth from 2015 to 2019, the types of content added most frequently, and the distribution of age ratings. However, these charts have limitations in their use of color and emphasis, which may impact the clarity and effectiveness of the data presentation. Relevant examples can be found here:
Visualizations
To build upon the existing analyses from Kaggle, I created re-visualizations in Tableau to enhance clarity, improve color usage, and better emphasize key trends in Netflix’s content strategy from 2013 to 2019. Expanding the timeframe allowed for a more comprehensive analysis of Netflix’s content growth before the pandemic, providing a stronger foundation for understanding how the platform adapted to changing audience demands. My primary focus was on three key aspects:
Media Type Distribution (Movies vs. TV Shows): I analyzed the proportion of movies versus TV shows, which highlights Netflix’s evolving content strategy. Since TV shows tend to encourage long-term engagement, while movies cater to a broader audience, this breakdown provides insights into Netflix’s business model and audience targeting. Looking at trends over a longer period helps determine whether Netflix made a strategic shift toward one type of content. Moreover, I revised it from pie charts to bar graphs to show differences significantly.
Growth Trends Over Time (2013–2020): I visualized how Netflix’s content library expanded year by year, emphasizing the volume of new additions. By extending the dataset back to 2013, I could capture long-term trends rather than just short-term fluctuations (2015-2019). This helps reveal whether Netflix’s expansion was steady or marked by significant shifts, offering insights into how the company positioned itself leading up to the pandemic.
Age Ratings and Audience Targeting: I examined the distribution of content by age rating to understand how Netflix catered to different demographics. Observed data build-up till 2020, I could identify whether Netflix expanded its family-friendly offerings, focused more on teen content, or leaned toward mature audiences. This is crucial in understanding how the platform shaped its library to appeal to a diverse range of audience.
You can view the re-visualized data here: Tableau Dashboard.
Reflection and Takeaways
While I was organizing data and doing visualizations, there were a few limitations in handling detailed data and tracking certain patterns effectively. One major challenge was visualizing changes over time with enough granularity—for instance, breaking down which types of content by rating were added in specific years. While I could show overall trends in content growth, pinpointing more nuanced shifts in Netflix’s strategy, such as whether it increasingly favored mature content or expanded its family-friendly library in certain periods, proved difficult.
Additionally, my analysis does not yet provide direct insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Netflix’s content ecosystem. Since my dataset only extends to 2020, it captures trends leading up to the pandemic but lacks the post-2020 data needed to compare shifts in content acquisition or production during that time. To truly assess the pandemic’s impact, I would need to integrate a dataset covering 2020 and beyond for a direct before-and-after comparison.
Despite these challenges, this project provided valuable insights into reading data and pulling out meaningful data to show effective graphs. With further refinements, I could try to offer a more detailed understanding of how Netflix responded to evolving audience demands and external disruptions like COVID-19.
Sources
https://github.com/nagalaxmirangak/Netflix-EDA?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://www.kaggle.com/code/imonghosh/netflix-content-strategy-analysis/ https://www.kaggle.com/code/kadamnishant/netflix-content-2015-to-2019