Streaming TV appears to have entered its franchise era; Netflix plans spinoffs of the Addams Family, Peaky Blinders, and action movie Extraction, among others
Sequels and prequels have already taken over the movie business. Now they're coming for TV. — Good afternoon from Los Angeles …
BloombergLucas Shaw
Context & Ripple Effects
Netflix’s move from licensed programming toward owning more of its pipeline was already visible in its plan to operate more fully as a studio, strengthening control over distribution rights as it expanded its in-house studio role.
Netflix can turn existing audience familiarity with the Addams Family, Peaky Blinders and Extraction into additional series, rather than relying solely on newly created properties.
The underlying franchises become more valuable to Netflix as repeatable programming and potential touchpoints for its broader games and consumer-products efforts.
Second-order effects
Streaming rivals and studios with recognizable intellectual property face stronger incentives to prioritize sequels, prequels and spinoffs over standalone series when allocating development budgets.
Creative suppliers may see more demand for work within established fictional worlds, while viewers encounter a larger share of programming tied to brands they already know.
Third-order effects
If this approach consistently improves retention or engagement, streaming TV could increasingly resemble the franchise-centered film business, with a smaller set of owned universes carrying more of the programming strategy.
That concentration would make control of rights and cross-format development capabilities more strategically important than access to individual hit shows.
The trend: Streaming services are shifting from hit-driven commissioning toward owning and repeatedly extending franchises across screens and adjacent products.
For a couple decades, TV has offered writers an alternative to franchise-obsessed movie studios. HBO. Showtime. FX. AMC. And then Netflix and Amazon. But streaming services are now getting more conservative — and that means they too want franchises. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Also in development: A TV show based on Extraction, two new versions of Peaky Blinders and a new X-Files produced by Ryan Coogler. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Disney, Warner Bros and others are slowly realizing that licensing shows to Netflix makes them money while keeping the shows exclusive to their unprofitable streaming services costs them money. This will further devalue their services since they will have fewer exclusives as peo…
The average person only has so much money to go around. And even the person that does have the money for multiple streaming services, who wants to sign into 5 different accounts to watch their shows. It was always going to end up back on Netflix due to Netflix having first move…
It's almost like everything that is old is new again. It's almost like we'll soon see a second (better) attempt to bundle all these disparate streaming services and sell the at one lower price. You know, just like cable. It almost like I've been talking about/predicting these …
Studios have softened their do-not-sell-to-Netflix stances. They are holding back their most popular content, but Netflix doesn't care. — Look at what Netflix did with Suits, which topped Nielsen ratings charts for a record 12 weeks and became Netflix's “most-watched acquired …
Disney licensing content to Netflix effectively reduces streaming COGS since the cost of content for the streaming service is less burdensome to unit economics. But the issues of churn and CAC remain for Disney. Only Netflix has created a mix with positive unit economics. [image]
1) The power comes from the premium upfront charge for content that Netflix is more willing to pay as it opens up about licensing necessity, as this creates strong pure margin revenue. Not IP revitalization. 2) They should be aware of how powerful this is for Netflix and churn.
What's missing is the unit economics analysis of Disney versus Netflix streaming. Netflix has lower churn and CAC. It is reflected in the income statement if the business, but can only be understood fully based on a per customer LTV analysis. https://thestreamable.com/...
Other companies have returned to suppliers. Netflix (and Amazon) are key distributors. But they're not giving up in the US, and companies like Disney want to be global. They need library to supplement originals, and they need revenue to increase original investment. So: Netflix
Confronting sizable debt burdens and the fact that most streaming services still don't make money, studios like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have begun to soften their do-not-sell-to-Netflix stances. https://www.nytimes.com/...
When building their own streaming companies, many entertainment studios ended lucrative licensing deals with Netflix. But they missed the money too much. In the coming months, some will start sending a number of shows from their catalogues back to Netflix. https://www.nytimes.com…