User:AKA Casey Rollins/Netflix Direct

Netflix Direct is a French streaming television channel owned and operated by Netflix. It was soft-launched for certain Netflix customers on November 5, 2020, and publicly launched for all France customers on December 9, 2020. It is included for free with a Netflix subscription, and airs ad-free programming from France, the United States, and Europe.

History
Netflix has described the channel as a "lean-back" experience. Some have speculated that the channel was conceived to reduce cognitive load induced by decision paralysis, due to the platform's vast array of content to choose from. The company chose France as the launch location due to the region's affinity for live, linear television. In the midst of the COVID-19 lockdowns, French viewers continued to watch linear television, bucking trends found in other countries. The Netflix interface can display up to 24 hours of future Netflix Direct programming, when accessed from the official website. It has also been cited as a potential way to discover content that would otherwise go undiscovered. The channel was preceded by a "shuffle" feature, which allowed users to play content at random, without picking the content itself.

I has been assumed that, if popular enough, the channel will expand in availability to other countries, or inspire spinoff channels. However, Netflix has made no such announcement confirming this.

As of 2022, the platform has seen little changes since its hard launch in 2020.

Launch
Netflix Direct had an initial soft-launch on November 5, 2020, available to some France customers, and only accessible via the web.