Netflix wants to retain the exclusivity of its original content, which means that Netflix Originals won’t be coming to other platforms anytime soon.
Earlier this month, Warner Bros. Discovery signed a licensing deal with Netflix to bring HBO original series, Insecure, to one of its biggest rival platforms. Aftewards, five other titles from HBO will follow: Band of Brothers, Ballers, Six Feet Under, The Pacific, and True Blood (outside of the U.S.).
Warner Bros also recently removed Westworld from its own streaming service and shopped the series to FAST (free ad-supported television) platforms Roku and Tubi. This is part of the company’s $3.5 billion cost-cutting measures initiated by CEO David Zaslav.
We’ve always have found that we offer this content to our members in an unbelievable value on Netflix as now,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said when asked about plans to license content to rival platforms. “And then, almost anywhere else we put it, there’s either a crossover, and they otherwise have Netflix account or have a much smaller viewing base. We think we’re taking the right course in terms of offering the content to our members and having it around even after its original run on Netflix.”
Sarandos’ statement comes shortly after Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the company is open to selling television channels that “may not be core” to the company. The channels include ABC Network, FX, Freeform, and National Geographic. During a recent interview with CNBC, Iger acknowledged that licensing content to other streaming platforms is “a possibility” as the company looks to cut spending by around $5.5 billion.
“I won’t rule it out,” Iger said.
Netflix is leaning on its original content as a way to retain its subscribers. Sarandos pointed towards Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction 2 as an example of original content driving its viewers to watch other titles. Since the sequel was released in June, it has driven subscribers to watch or rewatch the 2020’s Extraction.
“The syndication market, home video markets that continue to exist today are kind of contracting in a way that isn’t too exciting to build up against versus this opportunity we have to please our members and thrill our members with our content all the way back through the history of our content,” Sarandos shared.
“When Extraction 2 just did so well for us this past quarter, Extraction 1 popped right back up into the top 10,” he explains. “We’ve seen that a lot with new seasons of shows like when [Bridgerton spin-off] Queen Charlotte hit the top 10, here comes Bridgerton [season] 1 and Bridgerton [season] 2. So, it’s a very fluid and dynamic offering in that way. And it’s even better, the deeper and richer that library becomes.”
