Although Netflix may recently have ventured into the realm of interactive entertainment with Bandersnatch and Minecraft Story Mode, the service is still primarily for passive consumption, more-so than gaming. Despite that fact, it seems that the streaming service actually considers Fortnite one of its biggest competitors for screen time.
In a quarterly report released yesterday, Netflix claims that it competes for screen time more against Fortnite than it does with a similar entertainment powerhouse service like HBO. The comparison may seem like a strange one, but it has to do with Netflix aiming to earn as much screen time as possible on all devices, including mobile. The popularity of Fortnite definitely cuts into a large portion of that mobile screen time for many users.
“We earn consumer screen time, both mobile and television, away from a very broad set of competitors. We compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO."
Although it's impossible to predict the future, one thing that Netflix does have on its side is the cycle of trends in the gaming industry. Fortnite has enjoyed quite a nice stretch in the spotlight and elevated the Battle Royale genre to a mainstream audience, but it's likely the game's massive popularity won't last for years on end. Netflix, on the other hand, is likely to continue seeing strong numbers as long as it produces or acquires high-quality content. That's not to say that Fortnite will be going away anytime soon or that Netflix is safe from whatever game Twitch and YouTube streamers cling onto next.
There's likely room for both Netflix and Fortnite at the top of the screen time ladder, but it is interesting to see how massive Fortnite's impact has become in the last year. The game is constantly releasing new content and doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon, so it will be exciting to see how long it can remain king of the hill.
Fortnite is currently available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and many mobile devices.