Netflix Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters used the company’s second-quarter earnings interview to try to clear the air regarding prospects for M&A, strategic partnerships and FAST channels.
Responding to a question about Lionsgate or NBCUniversal, both considered prime suspects in the current wave of consolidation, Sarandos told Wall Street analysts he wanted to remind them of the company’s “core philosophy.” Netflix has “multiple ways to achieve our goals,” he added, among them “producing, licensing, partnering. And we’re constantly seeking ways to allocate our resources to the most attractive options.”
Repeating the same mantra that Peters offered up last fall as reports swirled about a potential run at Warner Bros. Discovery, Sarandos said, “We’re primarily builders, not buyers. That remains the case today. So, others will speculate about our intentions because they have their own reasons for that. But our track record is clear that we have a very high bar to do any big M&A.”
The remarks came after the company reported mixed second-quarter results and predicted a slight slowdown in growth in the third quarter. The numbers and projections seemed to only add to existing skepticism on Wall Street, sending Netflix shares down nearly 9% in after-hours trading. The stock has fallen more than 40% over the past year, and did not rebound after Netflix abandoned its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery and ceded the prize to Paramount (collecting a $2.8 breakup fee in the process). Questions have lingered since the merger battle, chiefly about why Netflix felt it needed to attempt by far the priciest M&A deal in its history and also whether it would feel compelled to explore other deals in the current climate of consolidation.
Peters, who steered the company’s milestone partnership with French broadcaster TF1, was asked about early takeaways from the venture and whether it might consider similar arrangements with other partners. There have been reports, for example, about NBCU streamer Peacock potentially looking to forge a partnership with Netflix. The company doesn’t do many bundles, though it is part of Comcast’s Xfinity StreamSaver package.
“Since the very beginning when we launched our streaming service, we’ve always sought to expand the entertainment offering,” Peters said. “Our members consistently tell us that they want more from us. We see that in the usage behavior. We see it any kind of testing or modeling we do around the space. And I would say that fulfilling on that customer desire for more has really been the driver for growth for our business for the last two decades. This partnership with TF1 is yet just another approach to expanding that offering.”
With a global footprint of 330 million households, he added, “We believe that we can help other producers, other services maximize the value and the relevance of the content that they invest in by finding those bigger audiences. And we have many, many examples of this effect, including now, in this new model with TF1.”
Given the TF1 integration only took effect last month in France, “it’s early,” Peters said. “There’s a bunch that we’ll learn through this process, but we are pleased with the performance we are seeing. … The early results from how members are reacting, how they’re interacting are very promising.”
While no follow-on agreements are ready to announce, Peters added, “if we see additional deals that similarly serve our members, that work for our partner, that work for us, we’ll certainly consider them.”
FAST channels, which have become a multi-billion-dollar category explored by virtually every rival streamer, remain uncharted territory for Netflix. Numerous press reports in recent months have speculated that the company could license third-party programming or use its existing library to launch FAST channels, which could potentially boost advertising revenue and subscriber levels.
“Maintaining and increasing accessibility, especially as we expand our content offering around the world, add new customer segments, that’s a critical focus and goal for us,” Peters said. “Optimizing long-term revenue is the other big goal. A free offering could make sense in some markets, but we have to be thoughtful about cannibalization of pay tiers. We’ve got to ensure that we’ve got the right offering, the right differentiation, differentiation of that offering.”
Peters added that “an effective, scaled ads business in any candidate country for such an offering is clearly an important enabling factor to make those economics work.” Given that Netflix only recently expanded its ad tier beyond its initial 12-territory footprint, it would need time to continue maturing.
“That’s all to say that free is something that we’re gonna continue to consider, but we have no near term plans to launch something,” Peters said.
