Netflix is paying more for Seinfeld reruns than it did for Friends or The Office. But is Seinfeld really that valuable in 2019? "Roughly 72% of Netflix’s watched minutes is devoted to library programming, or reruns, according to Nielsen data provided to The Wall Street Journal," says Brandon Katz. "The Office is said to have accounted for 7% of Netflix’s viewing with Friends accounting for 4%. Seinfeld, meanwhile, accounted for less than 1% of Hulu’s total viewership, per CNBC. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison given Netflix’s leading analytics-driven data algorithms and varied content slate, but it remains an important point to consider. One school of thought chalks up the difference to creative reasons. Both Friends and The Office prominently feature a will they-won’t they love story in its early seasons, an enticing narrative draw that Seinfeld does not possess. Millennials and Generation Z have given these classic sitcoms new life via streaming platforms, but elemental storytelling hooks still prove powerful. Regardless of the reason, it’s clear that the battle lines of the streaming wars have been drawn."
Is Seinfeld really as big of a draw as its reputation suggests?
