Next year, Netflix will double the number of original TV series from 16 to 31. In addition, Netflix will create 10 feature films, 10 stand-up shows, 12 documentaries and 30 kids’ shows, Ted Sarandos confirmed at the UBS Media conference.
To spend $6 billion
Netflix continues unabated. The company had 69 million subscribers by the end of the third quarter, and has just entered Southern Europe and the first countries in Asia. In the coming years, the company will continue its global expansion with a goal to reach basically every country by 2017.
To realize that goal you need original content and a lot of it, the company believes. Netflix released its first original TV series in 2013 with House of Cards, and has subsequently launched several hit shows like Orange is the New Black, Daredevil and Narcos.
This year some 440 hours were released and that number is expected to double next year, with an overall budget of $6 billion. Netflix plans to create 31 TV series (including sequels), 10 feature films, 10 stand-up shows, 12 documentaries, and 30 kids’ shows.
Some of the new titles include The Crown, more superhero series by Marvel, Marseille, Suburra as well as movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny and War Machine with Brat Pitt in the lead role.
All titles will premiere simultaneously in all regions. The films will premiere online on the same day as they hit cinemas. The majority of the content will be produced in 4K quality and some of it in HDR (high dynamic range) quality, which Netflix is expected to start offering in early 2016.
"This is quality stuff"
Netflix refuses to share audience number with outsiders, which has led some branches of the industry to question how successful the new shows are, but Chief content officer Ted Sarandos tries to assure everyone that people love the series.
- “Our shows are among the most-viewed shows on television,” he said.
In a time where other studios have responded to Netflix’s success by pulling their content from the service to use it on its own services, Netflix has reacted by aggressively spending more on its original content. That might make you wonder; will quality suffer? Not according to Sarandos.
- “It’s not just a lot of volume. This is quality stuff,” he said
