Save this story Save Save this story Save So, The Office is leaving Netflix . You knew this was coming, right? Ever since the streaming wars heated up, and every network/studio/hamster-with-a-YouTube-channel started announcing their plans for a stand-alone service, back-catalog TV shows and movies have become bargaining chips. Netflix wants to keep them and is willing to pay top dollar for the rights to stream them; production companies want them back to use as chum to entice future subscribers. It’s bad for Netflix. It’s also hard on viewers who have to face a world where they’ll soon need at least a half-dozen streaming accounts to watch everything they want. Related Stories Culture WIRED Binge-Watching Guide: The Office (US Version) Max Ufberg Subscriptions Netflix Raises Prices to Stockpile for the Streaming Wars Brian Barrett Year in Review The Streaming Wars Began in 2018—and They’ll Only Get Worse Brian Raftery It’s a mess—and a costly one at that. NBCUniversal reportedly out-bid Netflix for the rights to The Office to the tune of $500 million ($100 million per year for five years). And in doing so, it’s not just buying a marquee show—and one of Netflix’s most popular —it’s buying something the streaming giant can’t easily replicate. Shows like The Office and movies like the Marvel films, which will likely all one day be on Disney+ , have brand recognition, and they’re the meat and potatoes that keep subscribers on the service. Those movies and TV shows are also indicative of the kind of programming that Netflix really can’t do on its own. The Office typically had 20-episode-plus seasons and the full catalog is 188 episodes total. That’s a massive haul, especially when compared to Netflix original series, which have seasons that are generally half that size. Even though it’s expected to spend some $15 billion on original content in 2019, Netflix still needs to get a lot of bang for those bucks, so it specializes in niche series that are more fast and loose than a traditional network show. (And shows like Bonding , for example, are only seven episodes long, with each episode being between 14 and 17 minutes long.) And while the streaming service will shell out for big movies like Bright , those still don’t have the pull of The Avengers. Angela Watercutter is a senior editor at WIRED covering pop culture. And really, Netflix is smart to operate this way. Without the guaranteed eyeballs of a “Must See TV” Thursday night time slot, the streaming giant can’t build up the fan base that The Office has. And while a large chunk of the show’s current fan base are millennials who probably didn’t watch the show when it was on NBC, that prime-time audience is what guaranteed that The Office got renewed over and over again. Chances are, if Netflix tried to put out a 25-episode 30-minute comedy now, it would have a much harder time accumulating the cult following that Steve Carell and the gang got a decade ago. Netflix has to aim for instant gratification. But there is a possible silver lining here for Netflix. The Office isn’t leaving the streaming service until 2021 . By then, perhaps everyone will have gotten their fill—and moved on to watching Netflix’s latest binge-able bundle of bons mots. More Great WIRED Stories Fear, misinformation, and measles spread in Brooklyn How nine people built an illegal $5 million Airbnb empire Inside the room where they control the weather satellites Google Photos hacks to tame your picture overload It’s time to switch to a privacy browser 🏃🏽♀️ Want the best tools to get healthy? Check out our Gear team’s picks for the best fitness trackers , running gear (including shoes and socks ), and best headphones . 📩 Get even more of our inside scoops with our weekly Backchannel newsletter Most Popular Health and Fitness The Best Running Underwear to Beat Burn on Your Bits By Kieran Alger Gear How to Use Parental Controls in Your Google, Apple, and Microsoft Accounts By David Nield Phones How to Use Apple’s Genmoji to Create New Kinds of Emojis By Brenda Stolyar
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