Ted Sarandos Defends Netflix’ Tough Stance On Theatrical Releasing – “We Are In The Subscription Streaming Business, And You Can See Our Results”

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended the streamer’s stance on theatrical – that is, mostly skipping it – assuring Wall Streeters on a quarterly earnings call that it’s good business.

“Look, I’m just going to reiterate, we are in the subscriptions streaming business, and you can see our results. It’s a pretty good business and it appeals to a very large segment of consumers and fans,” he said.

“Our top 10 films that premiere on Netflix all have over 100 million views, among the most watched films in the world. It’s our desire to connect keep adding value to our consumers for their subscription dollar. We believe that not making them wait for months to watch the movie that everyone’s talking about adds that value. So what we do for filmmakers is, we … bring them, the biggest audience in the world for their films, and then we help them make the best films of their life.”

“That could be any one of the nine Best Picture nominee films that we’ve released so far, or it could be any of those top 10 films that are as big as billion dollar box office movies,” he added.

His response was to a question from LightShed analyst Rich Greenfield, who was gently mocked for asking if it’s possible for films to “pierce the cultural zeitgeist without a theatrical release.”

“Thank you for that question, again,” Sarandos said. “I’m sure that we can continue to pierce the Zeitgeist and have those moments in the culture, even when those moments begin on Netflix.”