Saying they are trying to achieve a more “interactive experience,” Netflix has begun testing patches on kids shows. These digital badges will be given as rewards for watching certain episodes or a certain number of episodes of a Netflix original show. Patches don’t unlock any extra content. They are meant to be their own reward.
There has been some backlash from parents and others on Twitter who are concerned about kids binge-watching more shows. I can attest to the difficulty of convincing your kids that it’s time to turn off their shows and move on to some other activity. I agree that the last thing we need is the collection of badges or patches as another excuse for our kids to get sucked into episode after episode.
Netflix has tried in the past to increase interactivity for viewers with their choose your own adventure content. These movies contained built-in pauses to ask the viewer what the main character should do. The story developed into different scenes based on the choices of the viewer. While the end of the story seemed to be the same no matter your choice, it provided a bit of interactivity as opposed to just sitting and watching a story play out on the screen. There haven’t been very many more of these shows since the original test episodes came out.
What Parents Should Know
Too much screen time is always a concern for parents these days and I would be surprised if the response to badges for watching shows is positive at all. The goal is pretty obvious: Netflix wants to increase viewership. I imagine that the testing phase will end with the removal of patches and badges. Parents are becoming more and more aware of the amount of time their kids are spending online and watching video content and setting stricter boundaries. Hopefully, Netflix gets wise to that fact and allows it to inform their decisions.