Netflix has won many fans, awards, Emmy nominations and critical reviews from its orignial series’ including “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black”. The increase in popularity has brought in a new stream of customers totaling the number of subscribers to 53 million.
The Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos says that 2015 “brings us about halfway to our hopes and plans of what kind of projects are feasible.” He will reveal detailed plans on Wednesday to TV critics.
“We can successfully support about 20 original scripted series every year, with a new series or a new season every two to three weeks, and still maintain a level of quality we expect,” said Sarandos.
The new year has lots in store starting with new season of “House of Cards”, premiering on Feb 27. Other notable new additions to Netflix’s content includes “The Fall”, a BBC series starring Gillian Anderson; “Bloodline”, a family thriller from the creators of Damages; “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt “, a TV serial acquired from NBC and produced by Tina Fey; and “Marvel’s Daredevil”, on April 10 which is the first part of a five planned series from Marvel.
Growth in Netflix’s subscribers is in part to its international expansion. However, that doesn’t influence what kind of shows are made. “House of Cards”, an American political thriller, is “outrageously popular in China,” says Sarandos. In markets where the action genre isn’t the main export, Sarandos is “stunned at the level of success Orange has achieved”. He further adds on American comedy which according to conventional wisdom “doesn’t travel very well, our data indicates otherwise.”
Netflix host a wide range of theatrical movies and old TV shows. Last week, all season of the popular comedy series, “Friends”, was added to Netflix, which as Sarandos says, satisfied an urge for “comfort watching”. Two million viewers are drawn to 70 kids shows on the service, which keeps subscribers paying the monthly fee of $7.99. Kids shows like “Care Bears” and “Magic School Bus” are updated periodically.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, originally produced by and for NBC, “would have struggled on any broadcast network,” Sarandos says. “There are jokes in the show that would make a network executive squirm, and we embrace it.”
Not all Netflix original series’ have taken off like the expensive “Marco Polo”, released in December, which was slammed by critics for demonstrating less historical drama and more Kung Fu. “I’ve never seen a bigger disparity between user reviews and critic reviews,” Sarandas says, defending the series. “We want to have both, but if I had to choose between the two, I’d pick fans.” Due to strong viewership, the series is to be renewed for a second season.
