Netflix, Tony Hinchcliffe, & the art of political shapeshifting

Netflix just gave Tony Hinchcliffe a three-special deal under his Kill Tony brand.

If this is a surprise to you, it really shouldn’t be. If it feels like a deliberate move to tap into a certain audience, you’re absolutely right.

In fact, Netflix isn’t alone in this pivot. Amazon Prime Video has just announced it will soon be streaming several seasons of The Apprentice, the NBC reality show that helped cement Donald Trump’s public persona in the early 2000s. Coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidences. Not when there’s millions of dollars involved, anyway.

Streaming platforms don’t make content decisions in a vacuum. If anything, they’re more politically attuned than most institutions. After all, they’re in the business of feeding people exactly what they want to see. And right now, what they’re seeing is an America that is, once again, swinging right. So, naturally, the content follows.

If we rewind a few years, Netflix was deep in its Woke Era.

Shows and specials leaned hard into social justice themes, representation was at an all-time high, and the company was very publicly positioning itself as a progressive brand. It was the era of Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, of diversity-forward corporate statements, of cutting ties with talent deemed "problematic".

But now? The winds are shifting. The culture war is in full force, and Netflix, ever the savvy opportunist, is adjusting accordingly. To be clear, this isn’t about Netflix suddenly embracing right-wing ideology. It’s about Netflix doing what it does best: chasing the money.

And the money right now? It’s telling them that there’s a sizeable audience of disillusioned, anti-woke, politically exhausted viewers. People who feel underserved by Hollywood’s left-leaning content machine. Netflix has done the math and realised that appealing to Trump voters—or at least to those adjacent to that sphere—is a profitable move.

This raises an interesting question: Is it better for a brand like Netflix to stand firm on a political stance, or is it smarter (read: more lucrative) to adapt based on the cultural tide?

Because right now, it’s clear that Netflix’s ideology is whatever sells best in the moment. And if that means platforming one kind of content today and the polar opposite tomorrow, so be it. But at what point does this kind of ideological flexibility start to feel like cynicism?

Consumers might accept (even expect) a certain level of corporate pragmatism. But when a brand swings too wildly between extremes, it risks alienating everyone. The audience that loved Netflix’s progressive era might feel betrayed by the rightward drift. And the anti-woke crowd isn’t exactly known for brand loyalty (just ask Bud Light).

Is the future a content free-for-all?

If the last few months are any indication of what's to come, I'd expect more of this shapeshifting. And if the cultural tide shifts again, Netflix, and other brands, will shift with it. Because ultimately, the only thing it truly believes in is capital. But if history tells us anything, it's that when a brand tries to be everything to everyone, it eventually becomes nothing to anyone.

- Sophie, Writer