From The Verge:
[Verge] Let’s start with Netflix. I feel like there are a lot of similarities between what happened on that side with cable and what is going on with streaming now. I want to start with a big question: How do you think of Netflix right now? Is it a #streaming company? Is it a #TV company? Is it #entertainment because you also have games now? What’s the big-picture definition of Netflix?
[GP] We definitely think of ourselves as an entertainment company. We seek to be an entertainment company that does what’s very hard for other companies to do, which is bring a real capability and competency to the creative aspect of it. You see those competencies in many traditional #media companies. The Walt Disney Company and movie studios and broadcasters around the world do a great job of these things. But we also try to bring a real #tech and product capability and sensibility as well.
I think you see that in other companies: Google is amazing at that; Apple’s amazing at that. But it’s very rare to be able to bring these two centers together and be strong at both. That’s what we’re trying to do and be a global entertainment company as well. Partly what we’re trying to do is help entertain the over half a billion people around the world that currently come to us for that entertainment, and hopefully grow that number over time.
[Verge] Do you think that the introduction of ads is changing how you think about running the company? You’re at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity right now, which is the big #advertising festival in France. When you ran a subscription business, I’m guessing you didn’t have to spend as much time talking to advertisers in France. It’s tough work, I feel very badly for you, but I’m guessing that’s a new piece of the puzzle. Did you have to build up that capability?
Yeah, for sure. It’s a new capability from a technology perspective, so we’re building technology that supports what we hope is at some point in time — and we’re still very much in the process of building this — the best-in-class streaming solution for consumers, our members, and advertisers. We’re also building capabilities that we haven’t had in the company before. We never had ad sales, for example. That’s a whole new muscle for us to go build, so it’s definitely about growing that.
Maybe the question behind your question — and a question that I’ve gotten internally — is, “Are we programming differently as a result of now adding advertising to our model?” And the answer to that question is no because, at the end of the day, whether it’s subscription or advertising, both are anchored in something that consumers want to watch, that our members are dying to watch.
That engagement is at the center of both models. It’s mutually supportive in that regard. We very much think our programming job is to think about what our members need and how we can give them that, and that drives and then fuels both models in a positive way.
