Women

TECH
SHINY | WEBSITE TO WATCH | GEEK | MOBILE TECH | ONLINE ‘TREP | THE FIX
Competition,
VPNs and
the future of
streaming
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings
Sitting across
from Reed
Hastings, it’s
hard to imagine
that this
By Nick Rego, Senior Editor, tbreak
man is at the
helm of a company
as massive as Netflix.
Dressed in a crisp blue shirt
and matching jacket, Hastings
has a supremely relaxed
Reed Hastings, co-founder
and CEO, Netflix speaking
at the Netflix event in Paris,
France in April 2016
vibe about him, but his eyes
give away that his mind is
already preoccupied with
what the company is going
to be doing next. Seated
next to him is Ted Sarandos,
Netflix’s Chief Content Officer,
and within minutes of
talking to both of them, it’s
easy to see just how big of a
vision they have for the company.
From tackling piracy to
launching hit shows simultaneously
across the globe,
there’s plenty going on at
Netflix to get excited about,
and still so much more they
want to get done.
Netflix has launched in the
region very recently. How
quickly do you see the catalog
growing to offer more
content to subscribers?
SARANDOS We just launched
in January, so some of our
original series had already
been sold to other broadcasters
in the territory. All
of our upcoming originals
and productions will be offered
soon, along with local
language options, so right
now we’re expanding as
quickly as we can. We’re really
anxious to produce local
language programming, so
expanding the catalog is one
of our top priorities.
HASTINGS Our first titles
Orange is the New Black and
House of Cards had mixed
broadcasting rights because
at the time we were really
only in the U.S. when we
started those. But the new
and upcoming titles are fully
global, and we want to get
it so that all of our titles are
global.
What are your plans for
markets that aren’t native
English-speaking?
SARANDOS At the moment
we’re in 20 languages, and
we know we need to double
that and cover the world’s
major languages. We’re going
to start expanding with a
few new languages this year,
and we’re hoping to hit more
markets as we expand. When
it comes to dubbing vs.
subtitles, the biggest titles
on Netflix will always get
dubbed, while smaller titles
will feature subtitles.
HASTINGS Often we give consumers
both –subtitles and
dubbing– and allow them to
choose whichever they prefer
when watching content.
How has consumption changed
from consumers sitting in
front of their TVs at a specific
time to catch their favorite
shows, to simply loading up
an app and watching what they
want, when they want?
HASTINGS On one level
you’re seeing things going
from broadcast to cable
and satellite networks, and
now to Internet networks.
These range from things like
YouTube where you have
pretty low-quality videos
but interesting content, up
to services like Netflix where
you have very high-quality
4K video content. As an
images: netflix
example if you look at the
BBC in the U.K., BBC iPlayer
has become a huge success,
and they’ve invested a lot
into the service. Much of
their viewing now is through
iPlayer, so they’re moving
from a linear company to
something that also incorporates
the Internet.
How are you able to keep the
service ad-free?
HASTINGS [laughs] Maybe
we’ll plug some ads into
your stream? But seriously,
when you look at other
ad-supported services, they
tend to be free- such as
YouTube. So for them, it’s
important to service ads to
keep things going. For us,
we’re all about making it a
unique experience and delivering
great content, while
focusing on keeping things
ad-free.
Who would you say are your
major competitors?
HASTINGS Think about where
you spend the rest of your
time if you’re not watching
Netflix. Some of that
is spent watching DVDs,
some of that is playing
video games, some of that
is killing time on Facebook,
some of that is watching ondemand
and pay-per-view.
We compete so broadly for
relaxation time, and so it
really depends by culture.
With regards to other
streaming services, it’s all
down to the consumers.
People don’t think, “Oh, I
need a streaming service,”
they think about relaxation
and entertainment. Let’s
take the U.S. for example
where the competition is
very developed. Many of
our members are also Hulu
members. Many of our members
are also Amazon Prime
members, and almost all of
our members subscribe to
cable and satellite TV packages.
People consume from
multiple sources just as they
always have through the
years. That’s why we always
focus on how our service can
become better, because the
competition is so strong.
SARANDOS It’s one of those
things, too, where if you love
Game of Thrones, you’re
going to get HBO Now. If
you love Daredevil, you have
to have Netflix. So it’s not
one of those things where
consumers will only love one
show and cancel everything
else.
Is there any piece of content
that you would love to
have on Netflix that isn’t
currently?
HASTINGS There are shows
I watch on other networks
which are great shows, and
we celebrate them. But it’s
not a question of me going
to Ted [Sarandos] and going,
“How come you didn’t
get that show?” We can’t
have all the content on the
planet- there’s so much
creativity going on that it’s
almost impossible to try and
contain it to one service.
Would you ever think of
showcasing events such as a
talent show?
SARANDOS The more a show is
event-driven, meaning that
everyone has to tune in to a
particular hour to see who
won, we don’t bring a lot
to that simply because our
core definition is on-demand
entertainment whenever
you want it. Traditional
broadcast is built so well
on attracting big audiences
at one time and selling advertising
to them. There are
ways in which shows can be
crafted in the competition
space, in the news space,
that are less driven by the
on-demand ‘must watch it
now’ philosophy, and we’re
more into looking at those
kind of shows today.
Reed Hastings, co-founder
and CEO, Netflix speaking
at the Netflix event in Paris,
France in April 2016
Do you think Netflix is
something that brings
competition to markets where
none exists?
HASTINGS I think it does, but
in every market we compete
with piracy too. There’s
always competition in that
way, and there’s no question
that when we enter a territory,
it stirs up the market >>>
Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer,
Netflix speaking at the Netflix event in
Paris, France in April 2016
72
Entrepreneur may 2016
may 2016 Entrepreneur 73