Netflix may begin to provide livestreaming services. Netflix is working on a livestreaming option for stand-up specials and other live programming, according to a Deadline story.
Support for livestreams, according to Deadline, might allow Netflix to broadcast live reunions, such as the one staged recently by the real estate reality show Selling Sunset, as well as live voting for competition series.
The feature might potentially be used by Netflix to broadcast live comedy specials. The Netflix Is a Joke Fest, Netflix’s first-ever live and in-person comedy festival, took place this year.
Over 130 prominent comedians, including Ali Wong, Bill Burr, Jerry Seinfeld, John Mulaney, and others, performed over the course of several days at the Los Angeles festival.
Netflix will begin broadcasting some of the programs filmed during the event later this month and into June, but a live option might allow customers to watch shows as they happen from the comfort of their own homes (that is if Netflix chooses to bring the festival back next year).
We don’t know much about the new film yet, and Netflix didn’t react to The Verge’s request for comment right away. One of Netflix’s main competitors, Disney Plus, has already begun livestreaming. Disney Plus broadcasted a live broadcast of the Academy Awards in February, a first for the channel.
It has also become the new home of Dancing with the Stars, a celebrity dance competition series that will premiere as a live series on the platform later this year.
Netflix reported losing members for the first time in over a decade in its most recent financial report, while Disney Plus added 7.9 million new customers in the first quarter of 2022.
Netflix has hinted at potentially tightening down on password sharing as well as providing a cheaper ad-supported streaming alternative to help offset a drop in income and subscribers.
To read our blog on “As Netflix suffers, Disney Plus has acquired nearly 8 million new subscribers,” click here.
