Why Netflix renewed Shadow and Bone (and cancelled Jupiter’s Legacy)

Netflix is historically very secretive about its viewership numbers, only announcing them when it has something really positive to share. But happily, since marketing firm Nielsen started tracking streaming data, we have a better idea of how various shows perform, which can help explain why Netflix makes the decisions it makes.

For instance, recently Netflix made the surprising move to cancel Jupiter’s Legacy, a new superhero series based on a comic book by Mark Millar. (Well, technically they just opted not to renew the show and released the cast from their contracts, but the series is basically dead.) I say “surprising,” because there are a lot of superhero shows out there now and they all seem to find audiences. Netflix itself has superhero hits with series like The Umbrella Academy and movies like The Old Guard. It seemed like a big splashy series like Jupiter’s Legacy was guaranteed success, but the one-two punch of tepid critical response and low viewership sunk it.

And just how low were the numbers? According to Nielsen, Jupiter’s Legacy was watched for 696 million minutes over its opening weekend back in May. The series spent six days as the No. 1 show on Netflix in the US and 26 days among the top 10 shows, according to streaming search engine Reelgood. Those are impressive numbers, but when you consider that the first season of the show reportedly cost around $200 million to make, they’re not impressive enough.

Shadow and Bone demolished Jupiter’s Legacy

Compare that to Shadow and Bone, Netflix’s adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s YA fantasy series. That series was watched for 1.2 billion minutes in the US over its opening weekend. It stayed at No. 1 for 12 days and spent 35 in the top 10. It did well enough for Netflix to announce the numbers: the service said that Shadow and Bone was watched by 55 million households globally in its first week, making it one of Netflix’s top 10 original shows of all time.

Clearly, Shadow and Bone wiped the floor with Jupiter’s Legacy, so it was no surprise to hear that it had been renewed; if I was surprised at all, it’s that the announcement was so long in coming.

And Shadow and Bone is still far behind some of Netflix’s other recent big hits, as this graph from Reelgood shows:

This is a reminder that even shows with a ton of money and backing behind them can still fail, even on Netflix, the most popular of all the streaming platforms out there. Happily, there’s more than enough other new content out there to make up for it.

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h/t Business Insider