Netflix Wants to Cancel Its Original TV Series More Often

It’s admittedly rare of Netflix to pull the plug on original series after one season, but with recent cuts like The Get Down (and potentially Sense8), the safety … well, net might finally have holes. According to a new interview with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, the streaming service might be getting a bit more strict with its renewals.

Vulture reported on a CNBC interview with Hastings, in which the CEO noted “Our hit ratio is way too high right now,” so as to suggest that greater risk-taking might allow them more opportunities to decide certain series aren’t working. The full quote, for context:

Our hit ratio is way too high right now. So, we’ve canceled very few shows … I’m always pushing the content team: We have to take more risk; you have to try more crazy things. Because we should have a higher cancel rate overall … You get some winners that are just unbelievable winners, like 13 Reasons Why. It surprised us. It’s a great show, but we didn’t realize just how it would catch on.

Hastings also nodded toward the streaming service’s famously behind-the-curtain viewership data, stating “It’s a mix [of viewing and subscriber growth]. Mostly, it is how many people watch. But those are very connected.” That said, no word yet on whether subscription prices are due for another increase.

There’s more than a few Netflix originals that surprise viewers with their renewals, but are recent cancellations a sign of more stringent metrics to come?