Will Friends eventually leave Netflix?

Many fans of the hit series, Friends, were shocked when Netflix announced the show’s departure from the multi billion dollar streaming site, as of January 1st, 2019. Fans were in an uproar, fearing that they would no longer be able to binge watch their go to show in the new year.

Sophomore, Lili Noah, was devastated when she found out Netflix was removing the show, and said, “Friends has always been one of my favorite shows. It never gets old, and anytime I want to watch TV, and don’t know what to watch, I watch some episodes of Friends. Finding out Netflix wanted to remove the show was very disappointing.”
Other fans were skeptical, wondering if Netflix would really end up removing the show. After last year, they said they would, but ended up paying almost 100 million dollars, and signed a contract for the show to stay for only one more year. Many fans stayed hopeful that Netflix would listen to their thousands of requests, and find a way to keep it.

Sophomore, Diana Orfanakos, said that, “Friends is a show that never fails to make me laugh. It’s uplifting and I can watch it anytime. If they took it off Netflix, I don’t know what I’d watch. It’s so timeless.”

Friends came out in 1994, and ever since then, everyone has fell in love with this show. It’s a comedy, it’s lighthearted, you can watch it all the time. It’s practically a classic by now. It has set the stage for so many TV shows in the industry since its release. It may only be one show, but it does attract many customers to Netflix. If a popular show like Friends leaves the site, who knows what other shows may be pulled.

As expected, Netflix ended up paying 80 million dollars to the company who owns the rights to Friends, just for one more year of streaming.

Now, many fans are starting to question how much more time Friends has on the popular streaming site. After two years back to back of a threat to remove it, no one knows if the show is safe.

Student, Maya Salzman, explains that she, “Loves the show. It’s a show that you can pick up anytime and still understand it. It’s so relatable for anyone, even my parents. I honestly think I would cry if Friends was taken off of Netflix.”

The reason for it being taken off, is that many big companies that produced hit series and movies such as Friends, are attempting to branch out from these popular streaming sites such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu, so they can start up their own streaming sites, with their own content. Although, they have a hard time doing it because big companies, like Netflix offer them millions just to keep it on for one more year.

You’re wrong if you think Friends is the only show in danger. There are many, many more that are anticipated to be removed soon. Disney has even announced that they are branching out, and are in the process of creating their own streaming site. Which is why many Disney produced entertainment has been leaving the site one by one. Meaning, that when they launch their streaming site, Netflix will no longer be allowed to stream any movies or shows produced by Disney. A huge competitor like this poses a threat to Netflix, and will force Netflix to produce more of its own TV series and movies, which is costly. How is Netflix supposed to produce successful shows and movies when they are losing customers and money due to the reduction of good content!!

Big brand companies like Netflix are so “attractive” to customers because of classic shows such as Friends, that are at the user's fingertips to binge watch whenever they want. Netflix is no doubt the largest and most popular streaming site, despite it big competitors, and the company feels that if they lose classic shows such as Friends, that attract so many views and customers, they may be beat by these new streaming sites that are in the works, and that will have customers favorite shows, that are found nowhere else.

While Netflix may be the leading streaming site for now, there’s no question that they will have even bigger competitors in the upcoming

Luckily for us, we still have all of 2019 to binge watch our favorite Friends episodes, along with many other shows and movies… but there is no telling the amount of content that will leave the site by 2020.