David Letterman has amassed an all-star roster of guests for his Netflix talk show series, titled My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. The 60-minute show will stream monthly with the first episode launching on Friday, Jan. 12, and the additional five episodes streaming, one a month, after that. Letterman will kick off the series with a chat with Barack Obama.
Analysts for Citigroup wrote in a research note they believe there’s a 40% chance Apple will buy Netflix with the money it repatriates following the passage of corporate tax reform. Apple could potentially repatriate hundreds of billions of dollars, giving it plenty of wiggle room for a major acquisition like Netflix.
Exclusives
Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings received a stock option grant worth $28.7 million for the coming year, according to documents filed with the securities and exchange commission. Hastings’ annual salary in 2018 will be $700,000.
Disney, which two weeks ago announced a deal to buy $52.4 billion of Fox TV and movie assets, has made clear its intention to go head-to-head with Netflix, saying it plans to yank its Disney movies and TV shows from the streaming giant in 2019 for its own soon-to-be-launched service.
Netflix will likely end 2017 having added nearly 10 million subscribers in the U.S. alone, pushing its global paid subscriber base well over 110 million (versus 94 million at the start of the year). Its continued growth is all the more impressive when you consider that its streaming rivals also did very well this year — at least in terms of burnishing their brands. The best performance by a streamer not named Netflix was from Hulu, which in 2017 finally established itself as a legit player in original programming thanks to The Handmaid’s Tale.
Netflix and Spotify have turned their users’ habits into marketing campaigns to the delight of some. But not everyone.
Star Wars’ value to the Burbank entertainment giant goes well beyond the box office. Aside from spawning new video games, toys and theme park attractions, the space opera franchise will play a pivotal role in Disney’s efforts to build an online destination that can rival Netflix when it debuts in 2019.
Netflix has fired Andy Yeatman, the executive who told one of Danny Masterson’s alleged sexual assault victims that he did not believe the claims against the former Ranch star, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
Big media struggles with streaming but increased competition will make it harder for Netflix to stay ahead.
Netflix’s Holland On The Streamer’s Priorities
The more than 100 new series and specials that Netflix bowed in 2017 alone easily give Cindy Holland purview of the largest originals slate in television (and one that was second only to HBO in Emmy wins this year). With Netflix planning to up its content spend to $8 billion in 2018, Holland’s influence in Hollywood will only continue to grow.
A full 67% of people stream movies and TV shows outside the home. And 12% of Americans who watch in public have done so in public restrooms.
Cox Cable customers can now search and select Netflix titles directly from within its core cable service, following a similar move by larger rival Comcast. Cox says 70% of those with its high-end cable box already subscribe to Netflix. Making the experience of using the two services together could help with both loyalty and retention.
A recent Netflix email scam has been targeting subscribers of the popular streaming service telling them that their account is about to be canceled. The well-designed, individualized fake email convinces customers to update their account information to avoid suspension.
“Netflix will not be involved with any further production of ‘House of Cards’ that includes Kevin Spacey,” the company said in a statement Friday night. Netflix said it will work with the show’s production company MRC to evaluate whether it will continue without him.
As promised, Nielsen is releasing more and more viewership measurements it’s mined from Netflix data — including for Stranger Things 2. The company released its latest, and most interesting, SVOD measurement to date on Thursday afternoon — citing an audience of 15.8 million viewers, nearly 11 million of them adults 18-49, watching the sophomore premiere episode, “Chapter One,” within three days of its launch.
A new measurement service, already being used by eight media giants, gives first-ever insights into who is watching streamers — and how those audiences stack up to linear TV.
Netflix is said to be in very early stages of development of multiple ideas for a potential House of Cards spinoff following a Kevin Spacey sexual harassment claim and news that the upcoming sixth season will be the show’s last.
Though the decision to end the series was announced on Monday, the decision to pull the plug on the series was made several months ago, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the decision.
