How to make sure Netflix renews your favorite show

How to make sure Netflix renews One Day at a Time and all your other favorite Netflix original shows for another season.

Netflix has canceled a lot of good shows recently, including Daredevil, American Vandal, Everything Sucks and more. In many instances, fans have been left puzzled and feeling helpless because they don’t really know what they need to do for Netflix to renew a show for another season.

Unlike with traditional networks, Netflix keeps its ratings information secret, so it’s virtually impossible to track the exact things Netflix takes into account when deciding to renew or cancel your favorite show. To help, we put together a list of a few things fans can do to make sure Netflix renews their show for another season.

These strategies are not fail-proof. Of course, there are things like licensing, production issues, and more that fans can’t control, but there are a few things that you can

If you do these five things, hopefully, Netflix will renew your favorite show.

1. Watch it early

The first few days after a show is released is the most important. Netflix needs to know there are enough people watching the series when it is available to make sure the money they spent on it is going to good use.

If you can watch a series as soon as it’s available, it shows Netflix that you really care to see this series, and if you keep watching it, they know it’s good. And, that leads into the next point.

2. Watch multiple episodes in one sitting

Binge-watching matters. Netflix made binge-watching a thing. Sure, it’s always existed, but Netflix made it easier, faster and more convenient to binge-watch shows, and it’s very important to the network.

Netflix values how many episodes viewers get through within that short window. If every person gets through the first few episodes of a show, they know they have something good on their hands.

How many episodes should you watch, though?

According to One Day at a Time co-showrunners Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce tweeted what viewers need to do to make sure their show is renewed for season 4. They said you need to watch the first four episodes of their show earlier for Netflix to get behind a renewal.

Technically, you don’t have to binge-watch the series if you get through at least four episodes in the first few days that a show is available. It’s easier to binge-watch, though, and I bet it makes a difference to Netflix in the long run.

3. Finish the season

According to a report from IGN, Netflix really values Retention Rate when deciding whether or not to bring a show back. Basically, the Retention Rate is how many people finish the season.

For instance, a lot of people might start a new show because it looks good, but they’ll lose interest somewhere during the season. Shows that have a lot of people watching early and a lot fewer people finishing the show won’t be renewed for another season.

In the IGN report, Cindy Holland, a Netflix VP, said that’s what happened with Everything Sucks. A lot of subscribers started watching the show, but they didn’t see it through to the end of the first season. That means, to Netflix, a lot of viewers lost interest, and those viewers won’t tune in for another season.

So, if you want a show to come back, you need to watch it early. You need to binge-watch a little bit, if not all the season, and you need to finish the season. That’s the first three things you can do to bring you favorite show back for another season.

4. Tell your friends and followers

This is partly a numbers game. The more people who watch, the more likely a show is going to be renewed for another season. So, if you like a show, you should encourage others to watch it!

The network also measures how if shows and movies are trending or generating buzz on social media, too. If a show is popular on social media and contributing to discussions, the streaming network is much more likely to bring back shows that will make a splash on social media.

5. Watch it again

If you really like a Netflix show, you should re-watch it!

I didn’t know how much this mattered until recently. Apparently, the streaming network also likes it when people re-watch their shows and seasons of those shows. They measure that, too!

One Day at a Time’s Royce confirmed this on Twitter:

I know there are Sense8 fans out there shaking their head because they did all these things, and it wasn’t enough for the streaming network to renew the series for another season. These are not always going to work, but if enough people do these five things, your favorite shows should be renewed for another season.