With Netflix open about the fact that it plans to spend $5 billion on programming this year, and Amazon and Hulu and other programmers upping their spends, competition for top-quality programs is stiffer than ever.

That’s why FX — home of such premium shows as American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson, The Americans and Fargo — is dangling other carrots in front of creators to try to lure them into its fold.

One thing outspoken FX CEO John Landgraf tells talent is that FX Networks has been named PromaxBDA’s In-House Marketing Team of the Year for five consecutive years, he tells Adweek.

RELATED: FX Wins 2015 PromaxBDA In-House Marketing Team of the Year

He also highlights FX’s boutique approach over what he feels is Netflix’s more factory-like feel, with some 100 series in its production pipeline, including 45 for kids.

“Our network is more of a bespoke organization than a factory. We’re at about 18 shows, and that’s the most that I can personally pay attention to,” Landgraf told the magazine.

Many of those shows are among TV’s most critically acclaimed, and People vs. OJ Simpson is cable’s second-highest scripted show right now, behind only AMC’s The Walking Dead.

And working with Netflix isn’t exactly charity work for creators, Landgraf points out: “Ultimately, we also do pay really well. We’ve had an astonishing number of successful and profitable shows. I see the profit checks that go out on a quarterly basis, and they’re substantial.”

Still, FX is part of publicly traded company 21st Century Fox, and as such, it needs to turn a profit. For FX, that means each show needs to monetize itself, which doesn’t appear to be the case for Netflix, at least not right now.

“I feel like at the end of the day, the truth will come out. Nobody is going to be able to sustain a business in the long run where there’s going to be no data about the usage of their programming and there’s going to be no profit,” Landgraf said. “So I’m playing, therefore, on a temporarily unlevel playing field because ultimately it’s a publicly traded company and the data about the usage and ultimately responsibility for profit will come out. And I’m anxious for it to level, because it’s not that I don’t respect Ted [Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer] and Cindy [Holland, Netflix’s vp of original content] and all the people there and the work they’ve done, I just want them to have to fight a fair fight.”

READ MORE: Adweek

Tags:


  Save as PDF