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Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix, has defended his company’s reputation, saying the streamer is “saving Hollywood” by securing an audience for content which would otherwise disappear.
Speaking at the TIME100 summit in New York on Wednesday, Sarandos said Netflix was providing a much-needed service to those people – for instance in rural areas – who are keen to see films, but without the means of going to a cinema.
He described Netflix as “a very consumer-focused company. We deliver the programme to you in a way you want to watch it.” Declining box office takings forced the question, he continued, of “What is the consumer trying to tell us?” Sarandos’s verdict: “That they’d like to watch movies at home.”
Asked whether he felt making movies for people to watch in cinemas as a communal experience was increasingly obsolete, Sarandos said, “I believe it is an outmoded idea, for most people – not for everybody.”
In 2019, Netflix took over the last single-screen movie theatre in Manhattan, but since the pandemic, the streamer’s primacy has accelerated – although a much-coveted best picture Oscar still eludes the company.
Sarandos went on to credit Netflix for making consumers more broad-minded, saying subscribers frequently view numerous different genres. He then noted that a promotional event for wrestling event WWE Monday Night RAW included a live chamber music performance inspired by Netflix’s bodice-ripping hit Bridgerton.
Earlier on Wednesday, Saranos had said that the entertainment industry often gets “thrown under the bus” when it comes to trade deals. He later expanded on this, saying that free trade agreements with other territories might include an exception for entertainment, requiring a minimum investment obligation that only the entertainment businesses have to follow.
“What I was saying is, it’s often that the entertainment industry doesn’t get treated like a real business, and that’s one of the examples of it,” he said.
There are fears in Hollywood that Donald Trump’s tariff battles may affect the reach of entertainment such as TV shows and films.
Earlier this month China announced it will further curb the number of US films allowed to screen in the country, in response to Trump’s imposition of heavy tariffs on Chinese imports.
“The wrong action of the US government to abuse tariffs on China will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience’s favourability towards American films,” the China Film Administration said. “We will follow the market rules, respect the audience’s choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported.”
