Here’s How to Set Your Clock to Latest Shows Premiering on Netflix

Despite owning (and heavily abusing) a Netflix subscription for over two years, coronavirus seems to have made it evident that I (and I’m sure you) can consume way more content than we already were!

I decided to do some research online into when and where of the streaming giant’s airing schedule. Here’s what I found.

Netflix’s Clock

Now, for every show or its episode, we are given a date of release without the exact time. These dates were usually Fridays and are now mostly Wednesdays. Let us suppose an episode of Riverdale was set for release on May 8.

Headquartered in California USA, Netflix usually premieres all its latest shows exactly at midnight Pacific Time. It is also then that it airs them around the world, which may be different times of the day but actually the same moment.

So the episode will be ready to air at Midnight PT on the West Coast.

If you are on the East Coast, you can stream the latest episodes in the wee hours of the day, or 3 am ET May 8. The same goes for Canada as well. As for the rest of the world, the UK watches it over breakfast around 8.00 am UK time, Japan over lunch, and Australia over dinner.

No tricks to stream early

The deal with this airing schedule by Netflix is that you cannot fool the app into airing shows for you at different times by changing your locations. Simply because all countries receive the streams at the same moment even if their clocks are at different times.

Had Netflix decided to premiere at midnight May 8 across time zones, i.e., midnight ET and midnight PT, the situation would be different.

In that case, if you lived in California, you might be able to trick Netflix into thinking you’re on the East Coast and watch a new season at 9 pm PT May 7 (which is actually midnight ET May 8). But sadly, Netflix turned out to be smarter!

Meanwhile, there are some series which follow a slightly different schedule. Specifically the ones that air on American TV. These include Riverdale, America’s Got Talent, The Good Place, American Idol, among others. Their episodes usually arrive on Netflix a day or two after airing on TV.

If you have any more questions, be sure to get in touch with us via e-mail, and we’ll find a solution for you. Happy quarantining!