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For Netflix, it’s all about global expansion and family.
The company is expected to offer 190 different countries more than 600 hours of new content in 2016, reports Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief creative officer.
Netflix refuses to pump the brakes and is expected to spend $6 billion on content for its 70 million subscribers, 43 of whom are in the U.S.
As Sarandos puts it, despite the network’s pace, the company’s product “hasn’t sacrificed an ounce of quality.”
“Is there too much TV? We don’t think there is. And if you do, someone else is going to have to slow down, because we have big plans for 2016 and beyond,” said Sarandos.
The company’s putting the onus on programming for all ages, launching 20 new original series for kids and 35 for preschoolers through tweens.
This includes Green Eggs & Ham, Guillermo del Toro’s Trollhunters and the revivals of Fuller House and Degrassi: Next Class.
“We find that a lot of Netflix engagement isn’t a 19-year-old boy anymore, it’s a family product that everybody’s using in the house,” said Sarandos. “Given complexity of children’s TV on cable these days, creating and managing our own content is preferential.”
Sarandos believes family programming is missing in the market right now, after being wildly popular in the 90s.
“We want to create shows that families can watch together,” he said.
And it doesn’t matter how many people actually do. It’s like how points don’t matter on Whose Line Is It Anyway? For Netflix, the ratings don’t.
FX President John Landgraf took a shot at Netflix for not releasing their ratings, calling it “ridiculous.”
Earlier in the week, NBC released their own ratings research for Netflix. Sarandos used his TCA platform to fire back.
“Why would NBC talk about our ratings during their lunch slot?” he asked. “Maybe because it’s more fun to talk about than NBC’s ratings.”
Sarandos continued, calling the report “remarkably inaccurate.”
“I don’t know why people are spending so much energy or time [on ratings],” he said.
Netflix doesn’t track the 18 to 49 demographic, because it’s purely for advertising, which is not a part of their business model.
“It means nothing to Netflix,” he said.
“Once we give a number for a show then they are always compared to other shows,” Sarandos said, believing it puts a lot of creative pressure on the talent. “I think it’s going to have the same result on TV, which has been remarkably negative on the quality of shows.”
Netflix’s ratings resistance stance isn’t changing anytime soon.
With Netflix sticking with what’s working, that includes the possibility of live programming.
“[There’s] no technological reason not to do live on Netflix. Part of our consumer proposition is on-demand, watch when you want, where you want, how you want,” he said. “Maybe live is one of those options for people, but [there’s] no immediate plans for news or sports.”
[All images courtesy of Netflix]
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