Netflix executives see content spending of about $17 billion in 2021 lingering there for the next several year through 2023.
It’s the latest shift for the giant streamer that’s always been gung-ho about spending and was seen as nosing up to the $20 billion range. But as part of its own, and an overall industry rethink, “We are expecting to spend about $17 billion this year, and we are in the right zip code,” said CFO Spencer Neumann.
“We have come through a pretty big business transition,” he said during the company’s second-quarter video call post earnings, referring to a plunge over the last five-to-ten years into original production, which now makes up over 60% of the total. Content spend will continue to grow but be “moderated” he said. “We have gotten smarter in how we can direct our spend for greatest impact.
“We spent the way we spent to get to where we are today,” said co-CEO Ted Sarandos, agreeing that “in general, we are kind of in the right zip code” for the next few years.
The execs stressed that Covid costs, which have inflated total spending recently, are way down.”
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