Is Reelshort likely to overtake Netflix?

Reelshort, a platform for short plays, has surged globally since July. So far, Reelshort has been ranked in the top 60 overall in multiple regions around the world, as shown in the blue area of the chart below.

 

 Especially in November, Reelshort repeatedly surpassed Netflix and even topped the US entertainment charts at No.1.  With such strong momentum, could Reelshort be the next Netflix? Let's dive into each of the following 4 aspects of Reelshort and Netflix together.

 

User Retention

Currently, ReelShort's retention rate is lower than Netflix's, but it's normal. The reasons are as follows.

1) ReelShort is still in the early stage of product life cycle growth, while Netflix is already in the mature stage. ReelShort has a large number of imprecise users, so the retention rate is naturally low.

2)The profit models of ReelShort and Netflix are different: ReelShort pays per film, while Netflix pays per member. In internet operation, several operational strategies to increase retention rate are membership, recharge, points, etc. These operational strategies can also be engaged by ReelShort at a later stage. When ReelShort reaches a certain amount of users, it can also switch to paid membership and the retention rate will come up naturally.

Compared to user retention, ReelShort's core metric is download, as it is currently in the early stages of the growth phase of the product lifecycle. The priority is to grow rapidly, and when there are tens of millions of cumulative downloads, then the focus will be on retention. 

App Downloads

According to the recent data of FoxData's "Estimated Download", the number of downloads of Reelshort, a newly published software, is as high as 57,970, which is more than 30,000 than that of Netflix. Even at its lowest download count, 6,525, it was only 20,000 less than Netflix. This shows that ReelShort, as an early stage product, has an appalling number of downloads compared to Netflix, which has been established for 13 years.

 

Pricing

Profit Model

ReelShort's profit model is different from Netflix's. ReelShort pays per film, while Netflix pays per member. 

Reelshort's pay-per-view pace is intense. Although the first 20 episodes were released on TikTok, when users come to the app, only the first episode is free to watch on the platform. And, even if users have watched the previous episodes on other platforms, they need to unlock them from the beginning. Unlocking requires either buying coins or watching adverts, which are capped at 20 episodes per day. While it's theoretically possible for users to watch short episodes for free as long as they're willing to wait and watch adverts, users who are attracted to the episodes and jump all the way to the app tend to order them on impulse.

Price

Reelshort is also relatively expensive when it comes to pricing. If you pay to unlock it on its own, purchasing $14.99 for 1500 coins, you'll probably be able to watch around 60 episodes of a short show, which is almost the volume of a full short show. Netflix, on the other hand, now has a $6.99/month subscription plan with ads. Compared to Reelshort, Netflix's pricing is much lower.

Ratings & Reviews

Currently in the US market ReelShort scores 3.78 and Netflix scores 3.66. These are normal and comparable scores for entertainment apps.

 

In terms of user retention, downloads, pricing and reviews, Reelshort has unlimited potential. But whether it can become the next NetFlix, or surpass Netflix, remains to be seen in its subsequent development.

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