In recent years, Netflix the original series has taken the TV world by storm, accumulating comments on social networks, awards, and countless fans. On the day of each new season of an original series is set to drop, the show is available in its entirety at 3 a.m. ET/midnight PT. Why is that?
The company has never officially commented on the release time, but what makes the most sense is the one that goes by the clock in the time zone where the company is headquartered. Netflix is the company’s headquarters is in a suburb of San Francisco, with another 800 people from the office located in Los Angeles. So the streaming service drops of their original series during the first minute in that time zone on their respective launch dates (which tend to be Friday, or, more recently, the Wednesday).
So, for example, Too Hot to Handle season one dropped on Friday, April 17, 2020, at midnight PT — and the versions are the same instant in all the world. It is not the same time on the clock, at the same time. So a show that falls at midnight in Los Angeles, is released at 3 in the morning in New York, 8 am in London and 4 pm in Tokyo.
Every once in a when Netflix changes things, as when the third season of House of Cards fell at 3 am PT/6 am ET. But most of the time, the company sticks with a midnight PT release.
One thing that people have wondered about whether it is possible to trick Netflix into thinking that you’re in a different time zone and therefore the watch shows early. No, because making Netflix think you’re in a different place not actually help you watch shows early. If the company is released from the sample all at the same time in all the world, to have the service you think you’re in England when you are actually in the united states does not help — the program that you’re looking for will still drop to 8 in the morning, London time, which is always going to be 3 am ET or at midnight, pacific time. This would only be possible if Netflix launched shows at the same time on the clock in each time zone, that is to say, midnight ET and midnight PT. In that case, if you live in California, you might be able to fool Netflix into thinking that you’re on the East Coast, and therefore get to see a new season at 9 pm PT.
Even that hypothetical scenario could not be possible, as that Netflix has been cracking down on the use of proxy servers. A couple of years ago, some users use proxy servers to change their IP addresses with the purpose of Netflix to think that they were in a different country to see the locked content in their own countries. Netflix announced in January 2016, and that it was to combat this type of practice, in addition to trying to negotiate agreements so that all your content is available in all countries.
Any way, since the sample was released simultaneously around the world, it doesn’t matter. We all have to wait until the same time, either in the middle of the night to the East Coasters or the dinner hour for Australians to start to see our favorites from the new releases.
— Additional reporting by Lauren Harano
