Netflix Execs React To Disney’s Streaming Momentum: “Super-Impressive” But No ‘Bridgertons’ In Forecast
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Netflix executives offered some of their most extensive comments to date on Disney’s intensifying streaming efforts during their quarterly earnings interview.
They spoke during the company’s discussion of results, which is moderated each quarter by a single Wall Street analyst and posted to YouTube, after the company reported strong figures for the fourth quarter. Despite mounting competition, Netflix added 8.5 million subscribers in the period and 37 million in 2020, well ahead of forecasts. That brings it to 203.7 million, well ahead of the 86.8 million for Disney+, but nevertheless executives were a bit more forthcoming than usual about seeing mouse ears in the rear-view mirror.
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“It’s super-impressive what Disney has done,” founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings said. “It’s incredible execution for an incumbent to pivot … so that’s great. And it shows that members are interested and willing to pay more for more content because they’re hungry for great stories. And Disney does have some great stories.”
Inside the company, he continued, “It gets us fired up about increasing our membership, increasing our content budget and it’s going to be great for the world that Disney and Netflix are competing show by show, movie by movie. We’re very fired up about catching them in family animation — maybe eventually passing them, we’ll see, a long way to go just to catch them — and maintaining our lead in general entertainment that’s so stimulating.” An example, he added, is the Shonda Rhimes-created Bridgerton, “which I don’t think you’re going to see on Disney anytime soon.”
Hastings’ reference to the Rhimes breakout had a little extra mustard on it since Rhimes decamped from Disney-owned ABC, her home for Grey’s Anatomy and other series, to sign a blockbuster deal at Netflix. The show appears to be on the verge of a renewal and was reportedly watched by 63M households in its first 28 days, ranking as the No. 5 all-time original series launch on Netflix.
Moderator Kannan Venkateshwar, an analyst with Barclays, drew sustained reactions from four of the five executives participating in the earnings interview when he asked about Disney. The nature of the response had plenty to do with the way he framed the question. “It almost feels like Netflix is underachieving versus its potential and has to work a lot harder to get to comparable scale,” the analyst asserted. “Are there any reasons why the Disney numbers are not a benchmark for Netflix and why the company can’t get there?”