Netflix-and-chill became Netflix-and-vent on Sunday night when millions of Love Is Blind fans were left waiting for more than an hour for the reality Dating show’s live reunion. Now the streamer is providing some answers about what went wrong.
“We had just a bug that we introduced, actually when we implemented some changes to try and improve live streaming performance after the last live broadcast,” co-CEO Greg Peters said Tuesday afternoon during a Q&A for investors. “We just didn’t see this bug in internal testing because it only became apparent once we put multiple systems interacting with each other under the load of millions of people trying to watch Love Is Blind.”
Netflix’s explanation might not satisfy those fans who were eagerly refreshing their Netflix apps but the good news, at least for the streamer, is that 6.5 million people have watched the special so far. Some viewers were able to tune in on Sunday night (albeit much later than planned), while others had to wait until Netflix re-uploaded the reunion on Monday afternoon.
According to Peters, Netflix does have the infrastructure to handle live streaming. “We’ll learn from it and we’ll get better” he said. That’s good, because co-CEO Ted Sarandos has plans for more live programming in the future. “We want to use live when it makes sense creatively, when it helps the content itself,” he said during the same Q&A. “A reunion show that’s going to generate news and buzz—it really does play better live when people can enjoy it together.” Sarandos added that some unscripted shows will have live components going forward: “I do think, sometimes, those results-oriented shows do play out a little bit better on live and they do generate a lot of conversation.”
Netflix’s first live stream was the March 4 Chris Rock special, Selective Outrage. From a technical standpoint, it went off without a hitch—though Rock made headlines for flubbing his highly anticipated Will Smith joke. In early April, the streamer revealed that its next big live event would be the Love Is Blind reunion. The reality series, in which couples “Date” without actually seeing their prospective life partners, has become a pandemic-era hit for Netflix. The series’ fourth season has consistently charted in the Top 10 for Netflix, racking up more than 157 million hours viewed since its March 24 premiere.
The live Love Is Blind reunion was scheduled to take place just two days after the finale dropped on Netflix, increasing the anticipation for the special, in which the couples dished on their Relationship statuses and behind-the-scenes drama. When the live stream didn’t start on time, many fans—including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—sounded off on social media. “We’re really sorry to have disappointed so many people,” Peters said Tuesday. “We didn’t meet the standard that we expect of ourselves to serve our members.”