YouTube series Minimum Wage gets a Netflix adaptation including members of the original cast / Netflix
According to a recent Nielsen study, cable TV is losing to streaming, streaming is losing to YouTube, and YouTube is trying to maintain its advantage.
Today, Netflix’s most recent attempt to bring creators to their platform comes in the form of its first creator-ensemble comedy series: Minimum Wage.
Produced by American High Digital, the series is written, directed, and performed by seven comedy creators—including SNL cast member Grace Reiter.
Here’s how a comedy group went from YouTube show to Netflix series:
Minimum Wage initially aired as a web series on YouTube in 2024, winning a Webby for best comedy.
In late 2025, Netflix ordered 20 new episodes of the series to air exclusively on the streaming platform, adding eight more episodes during production.
The cast was responsible for pitching episode ideas, writing scripts, and directing their fellow cast members.
“Streamers now are more aggressive in trying to figure out how to work with creators, knowing that there really is no difference between a social media creator and a traditional screenwriter or actor,” cast member Aidan Micho told us. “Whereas ten years ago, the stuff that we’re making might have been lumped into the influencer category just because it's on social media.”
Netflix launching this comedy series is both an offensive and defensive maneuver.
While Netflix watch time is falling behind YouTube by 8.1%, streaming as a whole is beating standard cable TV by over 30% (Nielsen).
What’s in it for creators: YouTube series still need brand support or independent financing to get made, so Netflix’s upper hand is giving creator-led shows the budget to expand beyond what they are able to make independently.
“YouTube is actively growing into the main role that television fulfills,” Micho said. “It’s not just an incubator for proof of concepts that then go on a streaming service. It is where the audiences are. [Through projects like Minimum Wage], Netflix is definitely doing a good job of trying to figure out how to keep television shows on [traditional] streaming services.”
Though Minimum Wage has not disclosed its budget, a workplace comedy series that runs around 15 minutes per episode is likely a fraction of the cost of other popular Netflix shows like Wednesday or Stranger Things.
Minimum Wage is a low-lift way for Netflix to stay tapped into internet culture and bring a built-in audience to the platform without breaking the bank.
