Esteemed by some, despised by others, Netflix boss Ted Sarandos has been one of the main architects of the structural changes that have overwhelmed the audiovisual world; challenging the excessive power of the Hollywood giant with a service for consumers that - for the first time - has sent the entire film industry into crisis and has produced an effect comparable to that found in other sectors such as technology and video games.
By taking a risk with revolutionary and highly competitive strategies, Netflix has gone from being founded in 1997 as a DVD rental-by-mail start-up to becoming a leader in television content consumption, with a market capitalization of $410 billion and 300 million subscribers, in just over twenty-five years, inspiring other companies to follow suit.
Even with the expansion of the offer by the new platforms, and also considering the discontinuity in subscriptions by users, Netflix maintains a solid position within the sector. In an interview with Variety, Sarandos expressed some considerations on the commercial maneuvers of other companies. On the choices of Amazon Prime Video, he stated in particular: “I'm just an observer. Sports has been very effective for them, but I don't know if that's their entire strategy”. And on the fact of perceiving the other platforms as actual competitors, he added: “No. It's hard for me to say. I don't know what their long-term plans are. They've been streaming for as long as we've been. They've been producing original content for as long as we've been doing it”.
On Apple TV, he continued: “I can’t tell if it’s all marketing, but they’re very smart people. Maybe they see something that we don’t see.” And on the current state of HBO, he said: “It was a surprise! We always looked at what HBO did, and at one point they had HBO, HBO Go, HBO Now and HBO Max. And I said, when they get serious, all these names will go away and it’ll be HBO. I never imagined HBO would go away. They’ve put all their efforts into one thing that can say to the consumer: it has to be HBO.”
But the discussion was not only about market interests and the moves of rival companies. Another topic that attracted attention was the disappointment over the failure of “Emilia Pérez” to win an Oscar, attributed by some to the scandal that engulfed Karla Sofia Gascón after the discovery of some compromising racist tweets. Sarandos, however, does not blame what happened on the actress’s inappropriate behavior or an alleged hatred of the Academy for Netflix, but believes that the essential ingredient for a film to win at a festival is always and only to make something that people love: “It’s hard for me to say that the Academy is angry with Netflix when we’ve been the studio with the most nominations for the last three years. As a rule, you nominate the films you respect and admire and you vote for best picture for the film you love. We have to make a film that people love.”
