LOS ANGELES — Netflix's first live stand-up special, Chris Rock's "Selective Outrage," was an all-around success for the streamer, landing among its Top 10 U.S. shows for the week and becoming Nielsen's most streamed comedy special in a measurement week, with 798 million viewing minutes. And it earned Rock $20 million from Netflix.
Paired with last summer's Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival, which ran for 11 days and spanned 25 venues across Los Angeles, it would appear that Netflix is seeking to establish itself as an eminent hub for comedy — even though the next installment of the festival is skipping a year and will return in 2024. Many of the festival's shows were quickly made available for streaming on the platform, and 12 additional specials have been released since "Selective Outrage" premiered in early March.
But for comics who don't have Rock's name recognition, selling a comedy special to a streaming platform is no easy feat.
