Netflix’s MCU: What Went Wrong?

3. Declining Quality And Viewership

Netflix very rarely provides ratings data for their TV shows and movies. They're certainly not independently verified, and only really get mentioned when the service wants to brag, telling us how many people watched Sex Education, You, or Bird Box, for instance, with numbers that sound impressive but ultimately don't mean a great deal without any context.

That makes it difficult to paint a clear picture of the Netflix shows declining in viewership, but the few metrics that are available suggest it's been happening ever since The Defenders. Looking at social media trends, for example, Crimson Hexagon's research (via Business Insider) showed that online buzz had dramatically decreased between seasons for Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.

Likewise, data provided to Screen Rant by analytics company Jumpshot similarly suggested declining interest in these shows the longer they went on, especially after The Defenders.

This is backed-up by the fact that, for the most part, there was a decline in quality after the initial batch of shows. Putting aside The Punisher for now, as he wasn't a member of the team, things weren't great: Jessica Jones Season 2 was a massive let down compared to the first; Luke Cage's second season couldn't match the superb first half of Season 1; Iron Fist did improve slightly, but it was starting from the lowest point, so it didn't mean as much. Take The Punisher out of the equation, and you've got a run of shows that reads: Iron Fist Season 1 - The Defenders - Jessica Jones Season 2 - Luke Cage Season 2 - Iron Fist Season 2. Luckily Punisher was good, because otherwise that's a very weak lineup.

Things did bounce back with Daredevil Season 3, but by that point, the damage had really been done. The shows had too many recurring problems - chiefly the pacing issues, which were hardly ever addressed (save for Iron Fist S2) - and since it was made out like they were all connected and you needed to watch all of them, it's easy to see why people might simply give up completely.