It’s Netflix’s world and we’re just living in it. The streaming giant made a big shift several years ago and, instead of just housing content produced elsewhere,Netflixbegan making their own, original content. Now, that’s the company’s primary focus and their original content library has absolutely exploded. And don’t expect it to slow down anytime soon. According to Netflix CFO David Wells, the company looks to have in the neighborhood of 700 original movies and TV shows in total by the end of 2018. That’s a whole lot of content.
“Let’s continue to add content, it’s working, it’s driving growth.”
“There’s more non-members than members of Netflix, that’s our opportunity.”
No other streaming service that currently exists can hope to compete with Netflix in terms of sheer volume of content at this point. Though,Disneymay have something to say about that when they launch their streaming service next year. That said, quality is possibly a different discussion. Netflix has found great success with shows likeStranger Thingsand their Marvel offerings likeDaredevilandJessica Jones. They’ve also made some quality movies, likeMudboundandOkja. However, for every one of those hits, they turn out something that either mostly slips through the cracks, or something that is sorely lacking in quality. For example, their recent original movieMute, an expensive and ambitious sci-fi movie from director Duncan Jones, has been mostly trashed by fans and critics.
They also scooped upThe Cloverfield Paradoxfrom Paramount at the last minute, which was a splashy PR move, but the movie disappointed many. So the question is, can they churn out more quality content while producing such a tremendous volume of content? Time will tell. David Wells also revealed that Netflix will spend a lot more money on advertising in 2018 saying, “We used to think every incremental dollar was best spent on content…we think marketing is a multiplier on the content spend.” This news comes to us courtesy ofVariety.
