The Hollywood Reporter (Weekly)
Why Netflix Really Saved Manifest
About 25 million U.S./Canada accounts viewed the series — and the completion rate was strong — as the streamer plans a budget boost for the final 20 episodes
It wasn’t the #SaveManifest hashtag. It wasn’t the petition. It wasn’t the letters or media coverage. And it wasn’t even the effort to buy a protest billboard outside Netflix headquarters. What scored Manifest a critical fourth and final season — which salvaged NBC’s airline mystery drama from the canceled broadcast show scrapyard — were those top-secret numbers created by viewers clicking onto the show’s first two seasons after they debuted domestically on the service June 10, just a few days before NBC axed the show. “Fan enthusiasm is always great to see, but it really wasn’t the emails or tweets — it was all about the viewing,” Netflix head of global TV Bela Bajaria tells THR.
At first, Netflix declined to pick up the Warner Bros. TV-produced series despite fan outcry of the drama being axed after its third-season cliffhanger aired on NBC. The cast, including stars Josh Dallas and Melissa Roxburgh, were even released from their contracts. One sticking point was that WBTV had already sold Manifest internationally in
several key territories, a key stumbling block for the worldwide platform. “What we really strive for is to have great shows available to all our members globally,” Bajaria notes.
But as talks kept up, the data kept rolling in. Netflix reveals to THR that 25 million accounts in the U.S. and Canada watched the show within its first 28 days of streaming. Moreover, Manifest relentlessly stuck around in the service’s Top 10 for 71 days since its debut and was No. 1 in the U.S. for 19 days.
The show’s completion rate — a figure Netflix guards closely — was likewise very strong. “We definitely saw the audience stayed with the show,” Bajaria says.
While a deal for a 20-episode final season has been struck in principle, some of the finer points are still being worked out. The season likely will be split into two parts, with the first probably airing late this year. The show’s stars are on board, but not all actor deals are done (Matt Long, for instance, has a conflict, starring in the NBC drama pilot Getaway, but has indicated that he should be back for “some” of season four).
The production also is angling for a significant budget boost that’s “well north” of the show’s previously reported $4 million-$5 million per-episode price tag, a source says. Confirms Bajaria: “It will be an increased budget. We want them to have a good budget that feels creatively fulfilling, but it’s not finalized yet.”