Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos: “Thank God” for streaming

Ted Sarandos, who serves as CEO of Netflix, is praising the cinema experience but knows movies need streaming services, too.

There is perhaps no bigger fan of Netflix than its own CEO, Ted Sarandos. And it feels like it’s every few weeks that he has something tone deaf to say about the state of the industry while also jockeying in heaps of praise for his company.

Appearing on Tom Papa and Fortune Feimster’s podcast, What a Joke with Tom and Fortune, Ted Sarandos actually praised the unique experience that going to the cinema can bring – but couldn’t help himself from saying that it’s a good thing that’s not the only way to see a movie. As he noted, “Most people don’t live anywhere near a movie theater. So this idea, and an interesting fact is that the average American consumer sees two movies a year in a movie theater. The average Netflix member watches seven movies a month.” He added, “Behaviors evolve. Consumer behavior changes. I do think there’s something very special about it, but thank God it’s not the only way I can see a movie.” To his credit, Sarandos does have a point about the utter convenience of the streaming model; after all, a study put out last year showed that the vast majority of people would rather stay home to stream a movie than put some pants on and go to the theater.

That said, is this really how filmmakers envision their movies being seen, especially if the company is apparently dumbing down their content to fit this mold? Netflix, Ted Sarandos said, has also become the perfect home for filmmakers, whose idea of reaching their audience has shifted with the times. “I talk to a lot of directors and I totally respect that they, a lot of them grew up and this was their dream, to have the gigantic screen and a room full of strangers. All those things are all…it’s just, it’s a very tough business model anymore. And I just feel like, I hope it is always around as an option. I just think it will be more and more challenging.”

And that’s where Ted Sarandos’ argument in favor of Netflix (and streaming as a whole) kind of starts to lag…Some major filmmakers have turned to Netfllix to be sure, but that he doesn’t expect the director to embrace challenges as far as distribution goes seems like an incredible insult. That, or he has his finger on the pulse completely and knows they’ll do anything just to have their movie released, whether the screen is 45’ or in someone’s hand.