Netflix: New CEOs talk about the network’s future projects

Reed Hastings, co-founder and co-CEO of Netflix announced his resignation at the meeting on January 19. As a result, the company then changed top management posts. Replacing Hastings will be former COO Greg Peters, alongside the already present Ted Sarandos. Regarding the appointments, the new CEOs of Netflix released an interview recently, where they also talked about the future of the company.

The appointment of new Netflix CEOs and the dual leadership strategy

Hastings was already clear in his head how he was going to choose his successors. And as a good engineer to do so he looked at the data and then tested them . He then settled on Ted Sarandos, formerly longtime head of Netflix in Hollywood, and Greg Peters. The latter, among other things, also supervises the company's advertising activity.

Many would argue that dual leadership just wouldn't work: Basically, you only need one person to make the final decision. But in reality it was the data that suggested to the former CEO that companies with two CEOs performed better .

Already in 2020 Hastings elected Sarandos as its Co-CEO. He added on Thursday that Greg Peters would join Sarandos as CEO. However, Reed Hastings will remain as executive chairman.

The highlights of the interview

First of all, Sarandos is keen to debunk a myth that in the long run has become an internet meme. And let's talk about the fact that it would be difficult to find good content on Netflix now, even considering the competition. In addition to saying it's more myth than reality , the co-CEO defends himself by saying that many stars now have careers. Indeed, he tends to underline, thanks to the platform there are hundreds and hundreds.

Peters and Sarandos also respond to another question regarding the growth potential of the network. Which seems more of a provocation than a legitimate question. In fact, if we talk about growth and development, they cannot always hope for registrations of 15 or 20 million new subscribers a year. The answer, according to the managing directors, is the exploration of new foreign markets. A good example they cite is Indonesia, with India being the main basin for interesting productions.

The interesting point of view in which they have returned is that of the right weight in relation to the size of the public of a given product. The trick to ensuring the survival of a series? For Sarandos and Peters it is using small budgets for series with small audiences and large budgets for series with large audiences. This, in essence, the answer to those who complained that the company tends to cancel many shows after just one season. Along with making it clear that they didn't shut down any hit series and the ones that didn't go on anymore were too niche.

The future direction of Netflix that the new CEOs want to take

For the future, Sarandon and Peters see the reality show format as the new direction to follow . Indeed and speaking again of foreign markets, as an example they cite the model of the Squid Game series. A program that no one dreamed could depopulate so much. Also considering the fact that many Korean productions are now having a lot of success in the West.

And this confirms the policy of expansion into new markets of the two managing directors. Indeed, they add again, India has an incredible film culture. Considering the share data on Korean productions, which reached 60% last year, everything is growing.

According to the two new Netflix CEOs, therefore, it is much better to broadcast content in real time. Otherwise there is the risk of losing even the share of those super passionate spectators . With the result that even the latter skip the episodes to directly spoil the ending.

Meanwhile, on the subscription side, bad news for some subscribers to the platform. In fact, users who previously shared their account with people outside the household will no longer be able to do so . The news came after the conclusion of the conference call on January 19, effective from the first quarter of 2023. Shareholders have said that the loss of a significant portion of users will not matter.

What is known is that a monitoring service will also start for accounts suspected of sharing the password . All by studying access to the platform by subscribers, cross-referencing the data of the IP addresses and the IDs of the various devices used. However, to remedy the bad news, the company stated:

As we roll out paid sharing, subscribers in many countries will also have the option to pay extra if they want to share Netflix with people they don't live with

Press release

The article Netflix: New CEOs talk about the network's future plans was written on: Tech CuE | Close-up Engineering .