Reed Hastings: Netflix To Spend $15 Billion On Original Content This Year

By Amit Chowdhry • Nov 11, 2019
  • At the DealBook conference, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that the company is expecting to spend $15 billion on original programming this year

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that the company is expecting to spend $15 billion on original programming this year. And at the DealBook conference, Hastings said that the company’s spending on shows and movies will also continue to grow.

“We’re growing and investing around the world. We’ve been strong in series. Now we’re getting really strong in movies,” said Hastings at the event via Bloomberg.

The battle for video streaming supremacy has been getting much more competitive. Disney is launching its own streaming service tomorrow called Disney+. Apple launched Apple TV+ earlier this month. And AT&T and NBC will be launching streaming services next year called HBO Max and Peacock, respectively.

HBO Max will have 10,000 hours of programming and AT&T is planning to spend $4 billion on the platform as it launches.

At the event, Hastings said that there are many categories that it will be expanding into. For example, Netflix plans to go big in its animation slate. And the company will also focus heavily on unscripted series programming.

Hastings pointed out that Netflix has not jumped on doing “the very biggest movies” with massive budgets. When he was asked whether Netflix will get into that, Hastings responded that they will “continue to push the edge on entertainment” and there are ways to go.

You can watch the interview with Hastings below: