Although Netflix may recently have ventured into the realm of interactive entertainment withBandersnatchandMinecraft Story Mode, the service is still primarily for passive consumption, more-so than gaming. Despite that fact, it seems that the streaming service actually considersFortniteone of its biggest competitors for screen time.
In a quarterly report released yesterday,Netflixclaims that it competes for screen time more againstFortnitethan it does with a similar entertainment powerhouse service like HBO. The comparison may seem like a strange one, but it has to do with Netflix aiming to earn as much screen time as possible on all devices, including mobile. The popularity of Fortnite definitely cuts into a large portion of that mobile screen time for many users.
“We earn consumer screen time, both mobile and television, away from a very broad set of competitors. We compete with (and lose to)Fortnitemore than HBO."
Although it’s impossible to predict the future, one thing that Netflix does have on its side is the cycle of trends in the gaming industry.Fortnitehas enjoyed quite a nice stretch in the spotlight and elevated the Battle Royale genre to a mainstream audience, but it’s likely the game’s massive popularity won’t last for years on end. Netflix, on the other hand, is likely to continue seeing strong numbers as long as it produces or acquires high-quality content. That’s not to say thatFortnitewill be going away anytime soon or that Netflix is safe from whatever game Twitch and YouTube streamers cling onto next.
There’s likely room for both Netflix andFortniteat the top of the screen time ladder, but it is interesting to see how massiveFortnite’simpact has become in the last year. The game isconstantly releasing new contentand doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, so it will be exciting to see how long it can remain king of the hill.
Fortniteis currently available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and many mobile devices.
