‘Stranger Things’ Helps Netflix Increase Subscribers

That audience has become critically important as well-financed rivals wait in the wings. On Nov. 1, Apple plans to unveil its streaming product, Apple TV Plus; 11 days later, the Walt Disney Company intends to start Disney Plus, which will feature Marvel’s biggest franchises, the complete “Star Wars” library and the Disney content vault.

In a cheeky marketing stunt, Disney owned Twitter for a few hours on Monday when it promoted its service on an epic thread with a seemingly endless string of titles (both famous and obscure) that will appear on Plus. Not to be outdone, Jennifer Aniston, who stars in Apple’s new signature series, “The Morning Show,” drew Instagram’s attention Tuesday when she finally joined the social platform.

Both streamers will come stocked with original films and series, and both will cost about half the price of Netflix. (By early next year, Netflix will face another competitor: ATT’s HBO Max.)

Mr. Hastings took a light jab at both companies. “It is interesting that we see both Apple and Disney launching in the same week, after 12 years of not being in the market,” he said. More seriously, he added, “Disney is going to be a great competitor, Apple is just beginning but it’ll probably have some great shows, too.”

Later, he summed it up this way: “We’re all competing against linear television, not really competing against each other.”

Still, the new services are likely to hold down Netflix’s trajectory, and the fourth quarter is also traditionally its most lucrative period when it adds the most subscribers.

Netflix plans a new line of attack at the end of the year. It will release more than half a dozen high-profile features over the coming months, including Michael Bay’s “6 Underground,” Eddie Murphy’s “Dolemite Is My Name” and perhaps its most ambitious screen effort to date, Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” which cost $159 million.

Ted Sarandos, the head of Netflix’s content studio, called the new slate the “theatrically ambitious” movies that can be watched in the home. That could “fundamentally change the economics of how people enjoy films,” he said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/16/business/media/netflix-q3-earnings.html?emc=rss&partner=rss