Dark period for Netflix. The two new CEOs talk about the future of the streaming platform and their plans
It’s a turbulent time for Netflix. Reed Hastings has left his post as co-CEO of the world’s largest streaming service, the company continues to suffer from a decline in subscribers and the announcement that it will introduce paid account sharing could spark a new flight of users and investors.
Hastings wanted to leave the company in the hands of two people: Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s lifelong boss in Hollywood, and Greg Peters, who oversees product and advertising, among other things. The two new bosses have published an interview with Bloomberg in which they explain what the future of the streaming platform will look like.
Push the boundaries
Sarandos and Peters’ main goal is to push Netflix’s boundaries even in countries where the platform hasn’t gained much foothold. The expansion targets are mainly aimed at the Indian market. Therefore, we will try to introduce more and more diverse products.
The two CEOs cite the example of Squid Game, a Korean series that would not have been so successful if it had not been heavily sponsored by Netflix: thanks to the excellent marketing campaign, it has gone viral around the world.
A sore point: the discontinued series
The two new bosses were asked the fateful question: after the series was canceled by Netflix. A practice that generally arouses the ire of users.
We’ve never canceled a hit show. A lot of these shows had good intentions but catered to very small audiences with very big budgets. The secret is that you must be able to speak to a small audience on a small budget and to a large audience on a large budget. If you do it right, you can do it forever. Sarandos
That sounds like an excuse. There are many popular series that have been quickly canceled in the last year. Just think of 1899, a spiritual sequel to Dark that was followed and loved by many people. Or the slowness with which it was renewed for the second season of Sandman.
advertising
The two also talked about advertising. Hastings has always been one of the direct opponents of such a system, but now it looks like it Netflix wants to implement it. There are already accounts floating around that pay minimally but are full of ads.
It seems that the two new CEOs want to implement the use of sponsors to make the service more accessible to everyone. However, they said that growth will only take place in the next few years.
share account
Of course, Sarandos and Peters also had to react to the paid account sharing announced in the past few days. A novelty that will surely annoy many users, considering that millions of accounts have been used by several people and shared by family and friends.
These people know how to watch Netflix. You watched something on Netflix that you liked. Our job is to win them all back over the next two years. We won’t do it right away. Some of these people borrow because they’re more budget conscious, less busy, or whatever. But if we offer a Wednesday every week, if we offer a Glass Onion every week, we get the vast majority of those viewers back
We pride ourselves on providing a great customer experience and we don’t want that to change. This is a phased approach, but the vast majority of people who don’t pay for Netflix will have to pay for Netflix. That’s a pretty rigid position. It will not be a popular event. There will be dissatisfied customers.Peters
Both seem determined to take the hard lineShe is convinced that top Netflix productions are so attractive that they make up the losses.
More live shows?
Netflix has also recently opened up to live broadcasts, mostly with comedy shows. The two new directors also discussed the possibility of expanding this offering:
There’s something very funny and exciting about a live comedy special; that’s what we do with Chris Rock. It will add another element to the comedy. The results of a competition are much better live. The only downside to our live shows is that even the people who love them skip the last episode.
It seems that despite recent attempts, Netflix will not focus particularly on live because they are not very practical.