Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is allegedly paying a whopping $4.2 million for the NBC series The Blacklist Season 1, according to Deadline Hollywood. According to the reports, Season 1 of James Spader starrer show would be streamed on Netflix next weekend. For the forthcoming seasons, the content will be available within the few days of release.
Costliest non-original content ever for Netflix
Before Netflix, Sony TV also examined the popularity of Blacklist back in March. Other streaming service like Amazon and Hulu has also entered deals with cable networks, but Netflix, a pioneer of the series SVOD business, insists on getting first dibs.
Blacklist episodes are by far the costliest show appearing on Netflix outdoing previous record holders such as AMC’s The Walking Dead, for which Netflix is expected to pay $1.35 million per episode. Twentieth Television recently sold New Girl to TBS and MTV. The show was previously streamed by Netflix, which paid $900,000 an episode for the series.
The deal is surely not the costliest ever for Netflix, as the streaming company has spent an estimated $50 million per 13-episode season for original series House of Cards.
Is the investment worth?
Netflix has increased its monthly subscription fees to $9 in May for the new subscribers, and had set the same price of $8 for the old subscribers for two-years. The company has detailed in its quarterly report that the change in price will not affect the subscriber growth. Infact, the increase in the monthly fee will help the company to match up with the content cost.
Netflix got its biggest hit in the form of The Breaking Bad and its prequel comedy Better Call Saul will also stream on Netflix. The Blacklist, which is streamed on NBC after The Voice on Monday, will soon become the prime-time series at 9 pm in midseason.
Blacklist was a hit series of last season garnering an average rating of 4.4 in adults 18-49 and 15.4 million total viewers in Live+7, marginally behind ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. Also, the show has been the third most watched series on the Network just behind CBS’ NCIS and NCIS: LA. Both Hawaii Five-0 and NCIS: LA fetched cable syndication license fees over $2 million.
