“Avatar: The Last Airbender” Saves The World (and Netflix)
It’s been a week since Netflix released Avatar: The Last Airbender to its US service, and the title has been the #1 most-watched show on Netflix US since. Though it’s been twelve years since Avatar wrapped, the iconic Nickelodeon show is still as relevant and beloved as ever. I, too, have hopped on the bandwagon and re-watched the series two times over this week, neglecting all other buzzy new shows on the streamer (... like Outer Banks. I don’t get the hype).
Though Avatar debuted on Nickelodeon, it is so much more than a children’s show. The storyline is complex, the art style paved a way for an entire genre of Western Anime, and the show won a Peabody Award somewhere along the way. I won’t get too into the show itself, but if you’re interested in finding out why people are so obsessed, check out this piece.
Despite the popularity, the animated series has been noticeably absent from streamers until now. Avatar was removed from Netflix in the US back in 2015 due to an expired licensing deal and was only briefly available on Prime Video in 2017. However, with Netflix and Nickelodeon’s multi-year output deal announced in November, Netflix now has licensing to important Nickelodeon IP-- including Avatar. The timing of Avatar’s release also primes dedicated viewers for more Avatar-universe content, such as the live-action Avatar remake in development.
Looking at the bigger picture, Nickelodeon’s parent company ViacomCBS has been outsourcing shows to other streamers, rather than following suit of Disney or NBCUniversal and putting bets on their own brands (CBS All Access, Pluto TV, and Showtime). Rather than compete with other streamers, it makes more sense for ViacomCBS to license out its strong library. Especially when it comes to the valuable children’s programming market, there are no obvious ViacomCBS-owned SVOD platforms to distribute these shows on. However, with Netflix’s push into children’s programming, this deal proves to be mutually beneficial to both parties. Netflix notably also announced that it would the exclusive home of new Pokémon episodes-- all part of its investment in animation and children’s content to compete with other popular streaming platforms for kids (I get more into this here).
Though exploiting the children’s programming market is an important part of the picture, the value of Avatar transcends this. Avatar fans are extremely dedicated to the show, and this is very important to Netflix. In 2019, the streamer lost more than $16 billion after the company reported a loss in domestic paid subscribers. Though there’s been a spike in Netflix subscribers since the COVID-19 lockdown, it’s still important that Neflix retain its subscribers.
Netflix has a lot of original content, but noticeably lacks titles with fanbases as dedicated as that of Avatar. Especially as Netflix recently lost important titles like Friends and The Office to their competitors (HBO Max and Peacock), they need powerful IP (and the subsequent fanbases) more than ever. Just as the Avatar saves the world from the Fire Nation, I believe that this release is an important step to save Netflix’s dominance in the streaming wars.