Streaming giant Netflix in talks to pursue new franchise strategy

Popular streaming giant Netflix is currently planning to pursue a new franchise strategy, in light of a steep decline in subscribers that began earlier this year, that also led to fluctuations in its shares.

In recent interviews with Reuters, executives discussed detailed plans for this new strategy. They pointed to 'Stranger Things' as a model for this, with at least a dozen shows and films that could follow. The Netflix original series is a hugely-popular fan favourite, which released a fourth season (in parts) in May-July. At the time, this had caused the streaming service to temporarily crash, due to the number of times it was streamed world over (more than one billion hours).

When asked what slowed subscriber outflow, the firm's boss Reed Hastings told the BBC:

"If there was a single thing, we might say 'Stranger Things'."

Anthony and Joe Russo, the directors of world-famous films like 'Avengers: Endgame' and 'The Gray Man', explained that this initiative was created primarily with expansion in mind.

The company reported its first subscriber loss in April 2011-- news that was followed by hundreds of job cuts, as well as a sharp drop in its shares.

After losing about 70 per cent of their shares this year, it remains to be seen how well the streaming giant's franchise strategy could capitalise on the popularity of its best shows and films, and in effect, move on up.

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