Netflix executives think about many factors before choosing a new show, but screen size is one factor that does not impact its thinking, says VentureBeat. It was revealed this week in Marseille when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos appeared for the premiere of their new show.
Netflix not worried where or how people watch the show
Hastings and Sarandos had come out for the premiere of the show named after France’s second largest city. The new show is Netflix’s first French-language original show and is one of the 30 shows the streaming giant currently has in production. Sarandos said the company is producing shows all over the world now with the aim of developing a wider slate of local content that will attract global audiences as well.
Interestingly, Netflix does not really worry about how or where people are watching these shows. It is not looking for shorter content or asking producers to change their shows to meet specific viewing situations even due to the growing traffic the video streaming service is receiving from its mobile applications. The streaming giant is instead glad to leave shorter formats to YouTube and any other service which has an ad-driven model, said the chief content officer.
Screen size not too important for young viewers
Young people will watch content more on a laptop, smartphone or tablet, noted both Hastings and Sarandos. Unlike their parents, young consumers are less interested in big-screen television sets. Sarandos said they seemed to be perfectly fine with watching Lawrence of Arabia on an iPhone.
Hastings and Sarandos further said that many consumers watch across multiple screens and are more interested in the comfort of being able to pause on one screen and pick back up in the same place on another screen as they change devices and locations.
Storytelling matters the most
Both Netflix executives agreed that the quality of storytelling matters the most and is something that transcended language and culture since they started producing shows three years ago. Sarandos said one of the surprising things is how these shows run across countries. The show Making a Murderer could not be more American, but it is watched around the world in an unbelievable way, Sarandos said.
“We have 80 million viewers, and they are very interested in the Internet and very open to new ideas. But it’s been really interesting to see how similar the taste is for good storytelling,” Hastings said.
Hastings and Sarandos said people are perfectly willing to invest hours watching a program if they like the story, regardless of screen size, language or age.
