Netflix Will Consider Content Spending Boost After Positive Subscriber Numbers

From January to September this year, almost a million people in the UK have ditched some of the most popular streaming sites. Subscription services such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime have taken a hit, with the rising cost of living meaning that people are cutting back on their expenses.

Rodolphe Belmer, the former Canal+ CEO on the verge of heading up French network TF1, has stepped down from the Netflix Board.

An olive branch of their own? Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are changing “direction” when it comes to how King Charles III will be portrayed in their upcoming projects, a source exclusively reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly.

Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos tossed cold water on hopes that the streamer’s recent deal with major cinema chains for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery could be the start of something bigger.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Following a quarter that saw Netflix release several of its most popular titles of all time — per the streamer’s self-reported internal measurements — and subscriber growth after two straight quarters of losses, co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos is feeling “better and better” about the company’s $17 billion content spend budget. “Both the scope and scale, as well as the range and cadence of hits is improving,” Sarandos said during Netflix’s prerecorded Q3 earnings interview with his fellow execs, which was released Tuesday afternoon following the announcement of the third-quarter results. “So I feel better and better about that $17 billion of content spend because what we have to do is be better and better at getting more impact per billion dollar spent than anyone else. And that’s how we’re focusing on it. So I think we’re spending at about the right level. And as we re-accelerate revenue, we’ll revisit that number, of course. But we’re a pretty disciplined bunch about that.”

In a third-quarter earnings interview dominated by talk of advertising, top Netflix execs described it as a “sprint” to capture “a whole new audience” and a bid to woo advertisers affected by “the collapse of linear television.”

Netflix said today that its closely watched paid membership number is becoming “just one component” of total revenue growth, so as of the fourth quarter it will stop offering forward-looking subscriber forecasts.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After two straight quarters of subscriber losses, Netflix returned to growth in the third quarter of 2022 — and told investors it’s expecting a strong Q4 to finish the year, even though it doesn’t expect big gains right away from the launch of its cheaper, ad-supported plans. The streaming giant reported 2.41 million net new paid subscribers in Q3, including a gain of 100,000 in the U.S./Canada region, to stand at 223.1 million worldwide as of the end of September. That handily topped Netflix’s previous forecast of a 1 million pickup for the period. For Q4, Netflix expects to gain 4.5 million new streaming customers, compared with 8.3 million in the year-earlier quarter. Netflix Basic With Ads is slated to launch in the U.S. on Nov. 3 and priced at $6.99 per month — three dollars less than the regular Basic plan. Similar ad tiers are also coming next month to 11 other countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain and the U.K.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix will no longer share projected subscriber targets in upcoming earnings reports — a closely tracked metric among investors — as the company looks to shift the narrative to its financial performance. Starting with Netflix’s fourth-quarter 2022 earnings report in January 2023, it will not provide guidance for the next quarter (Q1 of 2023). The company will continue to provide guidance for revenue, operating income, operating margin, net income, EPS and fully diluted shares outstanding for the following quarter, but not paid membership. Click here to sign up for Variety’s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial news, and more. “As discussed in previous letters, we are increasingly focused on revenue as our primary top-line metric,” Netflix said in its Q3 shareholder letter. “This will become particularly important heading into 2023 as we develop new revenue streams like advertising and paid sharing, where membership is just one component of our revenue growth.”

last quarter that it would add 1 million subscribers, and it now sits at 223.09 million global subscribers. But Netflix also is looking up for the fourth quarter after moving up the launch of its ad-supported pricing tier to November, having unveiled the details of the cheaper plan that starts at as low as $6.99/month earlier in October, and it further suspects that it will reach 227.57 million for Q4. “After a challenging first half, we believe we’re on a path to reaccelerate growth.

Netflix may not be in the live sports business but it certainly wants viewers to know that it’s got some content around the edges.

Netflix miniseries The Playlist have heaped praise on the series.The six-episode docu-drama, which was released on the streaming site last week, charts the rise of Spotify in a “fictionalised” account, following co-founder Daniel Ek and the idea to start a music streaming platform amid piracy in the music industry.“I’m convinced that The Playlist on @netflix is the best original I have seen on the platform in a while,” wrote one viewer on Twitter.Another said: “Don’t sleep on #ThePlaylist on @netflix. It is honestly one of the best limited series I have watched in a long time and gives you a great insight into the workings of the music industry and streaming business.”“THE PLAYLIST on Netflix — a dramatisation of the founding of Spotify — is pretty great.

Netflix? We’ve got you covered. October brings with it a trio of high-profile new movies coming to Netflix, all of the bone-chilling variety to differing degrees. But if you’re not in the mood for something spooky, there are a number of other excellent films newly streaming on Netflix this month.

An enthusiastic rendition of Happy Birthday rang through the auditorium at the world premiere of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio as the London audience was informed Gregory Mann, the film’s lead voice actor, had just turned 13. 

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix fans continue to flock to binge-watch “Dahmer,” the unsettling drama series starring Evan Peters as the infamous killer cannibal, in record numbers. Ryan Murphy’s “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” topped Netflix’s English TV Top 10 list for the third week in a row, with 205.33 million hours viewed for the week of Oct. 3-9. That means the limited series is now Netflix’s second most popular English-language series of all time in its initial release, with 701.37 million hours watched, behind only “Stranger Things 4,” which was watched 1.35 billion hours in its first 28 days. “Dahmer” has now garnered more watch-time than seasons 1 and 2 of Shonda Rhimes’ “Bridgerton” in their first four weeks on the service.

Kodak Black has called for a boycott of BET after Latto beat him in the Song of the Year category during this year’s BET Hip-Hop Awards.The Florida rapper voiced his disappointment on social media after Latto won for her track ‘Big Energy’ at the ceremony, which aired Tuesday (October 4), beating his track ‘Super Gremlin’.“This whole shit looked like a damn plot,” he said during an Instagram Live (via allhiphop.com). He also mockingly called the singer a ‘Frappucino’.“They probably hollerin’ at BET, like don’t give him that shit,” he said.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rome’s innovative MIA market dedicated to international TV series, feature films, and documentaries is gearing up for its eighth edition with an increased international industry presence, a new animation section, and lots of European content – most of which in early stages of production – on display. The upcoming Oct. 11-15 MIA mart (whose acronym stands for the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo or International Audiovisual Market) this year is positioned prior to the Mipcom content market and conference that runs Oct. 17-20 in Cannes, since Mipcom has shifted its dates forward.  But the repositioning has not impacted the number of registered attendees which is up more than 12% compared with past MIA editions. More than 900 international industry execs are expected to make the trek, and counting, organizers said at a Rome press conference on Thursday.