Larry Tans, Netflix’s president of EMEA, said the streaming platform is explicitly telling creators not to write shows with Netflix’s new ad category in mind.
“We’re really clear to our creative partners: tell stories the way you want with Netflix as naturally without any changes,” said Tanz, who was speaking at the UK TV content conference in London.
Tanz was responding to a question about whether creators should consider ad layer when writing with cliffhangers and other structural tones. Tanz replied, “Not at all.” “No changes. We don’t change the creativity at all. So, basically, it’s about more choice. So for some consumers who might want to pay a little bit less, to get the same Netflix with some ads, we think it’s going to be a good option and a good option for them.” Overwhelmingly, the majority of our members watch Netflix the way they always have.”
He added, “There is a natural rhythm in the shows and even in the movies, where there are the ends of the scenes and the places where the advertisement can appear easily.”
Despite offering an advertising layer — and an industry reckoning with the profitability of streaming devices, Tanz was optimistic about the future of SVOD. “Subscription streaming is definitely a very sustainable and profitable business for the future,” he told the audience in London. “We are a live, direct-to-consumer streaming company. Streaming is on the rise. Audiences are moving from watching things linearly to streaming on demand.”
“It’s funny that one of my kids asked for an iPhone, and I realized I could get a smart TV — a 4k smart TV — for less money than an iPhone,” he said. And I did. I got a new one. […] It was a reminder to me that smart TVs are actually very cheap. Smart TVs are common. People get smart TV, get online, it’s very easy. It’s like, connected via my Wi Fi. There was a Netflix button on the remote. And within five minutes, I was watching my new smart TV. And so it’s just a good indication that the growth of Smart TV, the growth of streaming, is a growing business for us. And we win. And we’ve shown that we can continue to grow this business.”
Tanz was more cautious about the FAST TV concept, however, particularly at Netflix, saying, “Let’s see how the basics go with ads. We’re going to learn. We’re an education company. We’re going to learn a lot about how our members interact with an ad-supported show. We’re going to learn more about This business. We’ll see how FAST TV develops. And we’ll go from there.”
Despite the linearity, Tanz said that Netflix was “very excited” about its first live-action show, which will be hosted by Chris Rock.
“It’s our first attempt at living,” Tanz said. And who better than Chris Rock to do that. It also comes off the back of “Netflix Is a Joke,” which is the awesome live comedy festival we ran in L.A. Fluffy Yglesias sold out Dodger Stadium, it’s incredible. So, Chris Rock will be live, and we’ll learn a lot from him, I think, and then we’ll have a live-and-play ability. And then I think we can apply live to a lot of different things.”
When asked if EMEA content creators should engage with Netflix with live shows, Tanz replied, “Well, there are a lot of creative ideas that involve streaming. For example, you could do a reunion show at the end of a season.” ‘Too Hot to Handle,’ or you can do a particular live event. And so there are a lot of great creative ideas.”
“So I think once it’s up and running, and we see how our audience reacts to Chris Rock, which I think is going to be really positive, then we can get into what happens next.”
[ad_2]
