THB #189: Netflix Q2 2022 (Pt 2)

The Netflix Six (the guy @right is the host but 5 don’t rhyme unless it’s A. Prime)

The “call.” (I would post it, but Netflix doesn’t allow it.)

Pretty boring, all things considered. Doug Emmett from JP Morgan was not a pushover, but he didn’t dig too deep for details - knowing they wouldn’t be forthcoming - in a few areas. Like when he brought up the idea that Netflix would have to negotiate rights to ad adds to licensed programming, they brushed it off, and I wish he had countered with something specific, like Seinfeld. He didn’t. But he did pretty well. (His first gig is not interviewing execs.)

Greg Peters was the primary talker through most of the video. The highlight comment from him was that they anticipate that they may make more money on an ad-based subscriber than someone paying full fare now. We’ll see on that one.

Pretty much everyone batted away every negative. Churn was a result of the price increase last quarter, but that’s over now. They aren’t worried about a recession (I agree on that one.)

Ted Sarandos oddly followed up on his (sad) touting of The Gray Man with a Kevin Hart movie no one knows exists yet and another episode of 365 Days, a soft core porn movie series.

Sarandos gets on his horse at 27 minutes. “They keep surpassing records!” No mention that all but one of the series that have hit were delivered by the previous team. He talks about how their movies are not only the most popular on streaming, but are more popular than theatrical… a claim is not only silly, but points out how “popular” doesn’t equal “liked.”

When asked about the marketing on The Gray Man, Ted talks a LOT, but says almost nothing. “You’ll see a lot of it out there.” He then says the Stranger Things campaign was amongst the best he has ever seen. But how does one measure this, as the show would have done every bit as well, in its final season, with no promotion at all. (Emmys were surely helped.)

Sarandos still seems to think people are just watching Netflix and constantly looking for the the next great show. There may be some truth to that… but not necessarily in the good way.

Anyway… a sleepy call. No one selling hard except Ted.

One gets the impression that Netflix would like us all to look elsewhere for at least 6 month as they cocoon and re-emerge as a butterfly. And I am okay with that.

Until tomorrow…