Netflix, the new CEOs speak: “that’s why we cancel the series, the future is live content”

Reed Hastings is no longer the CEO of Netflix, Greg Peters has taken his place, he will continue to share the scepter with Ted Sarandos, who has already been co-CEO of the streaming giant for several years.

Together they released an interesting and complete interview with Bloomberg, talking about the future and the present of the giant. Among the various topics, they addressed the thorny issue of the now increasingly popular series that are suddenly canceled, as well as the alleged flop of the advertising business.

We have selected some of the most important passages, while you can find the complete interview (and in the original language) in the link in source.

The competition is getting tougher and the suspicion is that finding good content on Netflix is… well, more difficult than in the past. It’s really like this? We would be ready to swear yes, but the two managers are not there. “The idea that it’s difficult to find something to watch on Netflix is ​​a meme that doesn’t make sense, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of stars who didn’t have a career before working with Netflix were discovered thanks to us,” explains Sarandos .

But there is room for another cutthroat question from Bloomberg. Now that Netflix has achieved virtually full penetration in its most important market, the US, how does it hope to continue growing by the barrel of 15 or 20 million new subscribers a year? Looking elsewhere, of course. “There are so many countries in the world where we’re barely present,” Peters says. Netflix’s focus will go there.

And then the alleged flop of the advertising business , which we also told you about. «We literally went from zero to a working product with several advertisers on board in less than six months», they explain, admitting, between the lines, that there would actually be some difficulties. “We still have a huge amount of work to deal with, I don’t doubt it. We’d be very busy working on it and perfecting relationships with advertisers for many more years to come.”

As for an economic return, Peters insists: «two months ago, revenue from advertising was zero, trivially because there were no advertising on Netflix. I believe that in three years we will begin to enter the territory of 1-2 billion dollars in sales». Important figures, which will add to the money paid every month by subscribers.

And what about the increasingly unintentionally comic situation of TV series canceled less than a season after their debut? The two executives settle the matter quickly: “we have never canceled a single successful TV series”. In short, it is the ratings that speak. “Many of the canceled shows have very good intentions, but they appeal to too niche audiences despite demanding a very high budget”. The trick (this part is aimed more at producers than subscribers) to ensure the survival of a series? «Use small budgets for series with small audiences and large budgets for series with large audiences».

As for the future of the platform, the two executives recall that Netflix will soon host a live special by comedian Chris Rock for the first time, confessing that the true potential of this new type of content will be tested with reality shows . «It is much better to communicate the winners and eliminated in real time, otherwise it often happens that even the most passionate viewers decide to skip the episodes to go directly to the finale and spoil themselves what happens».