Netflix’s Unscripted Outlook

Netflix is pushing ahead with its goal of 1000 annual hours of original content next year, with plans to offer about 20 unscripted series. That’s a pretty crowded space, so look for Netflix to take a “slightly more elevated” approach and a more global scale to the genre, chief content officer Ted Sarandos said during the UBS investor conference Mon. He pointed to the previously announced “Ultimate Beastmaster,” a global competition series featuring 108 competitors from 18 countries running an epic obstacle course. Sarandos again batted down the notion that Netflix would be interested in bidding for league sports. “To the extent that liveness is the selling point, we’re really not a great solution,” he said, adding that “league creation” could be interesting. He dodged an acquisition question, noting that part of Netflix’s success is that it can concentrate on being really good at building a great SVOD service without distractions from different businesses. And Sarandos made it clear that Netflix doesn’t have to produce only content it can own, offering up the recent “Gilmore Girls’”revival as evidence. Warner Bros owns the IP, which is why he thinks no one else did it. Still no numbers on viewership, but the exec said the Gilmore Girls is doing well and has been especially popular globally.