After the success of Netflix Originals' Stranger Things and House of Cards, the company is aiming to double the number of series' it produces this year.
At the beginning of 2016, the company announced its aim for 600 hours of original programming through the year – a rise from 250 hours in 2015.
In 2017, Netflix has said it will produce 1,000 hours of original content. Netflix product manager Todd Yellin added that the firm wants as many different types of show as possible.
Netflix customers, on average, spend around 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds looking at the titles for each show and trying to decide what to watch. “By the time they get to Netflix, we don’t want them to have to look through thousand of pieces of content and make a hard decision,” Yellin explained during a live stream. “We know the typical Netflix user is only going to look through 40 or 50 titles.”
Part of its release schedule will be at least 20 unscripted original series, including Sylvester Stallone's Ultimate Beastmaster, reports Variety.
“Unscripted television is interesting,” Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos said, adding Netflix is focusing on shows that are “more likely to travel internationally”.
And many of these could make their way to cinemas. Towards the end of last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Netflix had partnered with boutique cinema chain iPic Entertainment, allowing the streaming service to show original films in their theatres the same day they are released on the site.
Netflix has attempted to have its original features screened in cinemas before with limited success. Its attempt to release Idris Elba's Beasts of No Nation was met with hostility after major cinema chains refused to show the feature due to the dual release of the film. Read more: 45 of the best Netflix series to binge watch right now
The company is also set to launch a television adaptation of the 2014 film Dear White People, along with Marvel’s Iron Fist, 13 Reasons Why which will be produced by Selena Gomez, and a crime drama, Mindhunter, starring Jonathan Groff. The Netflix hit Stranger Things will also be returning for a second season in 2017.
The focus on original shows does not come cheap. Figures from World TV Production Report 2016, an upcoming report by IHS Markit, has found that Netflix, as well as Amazon, have ramped up their investment in programming, spending $7.5 billion last year. This is more than CBS, HBO, Turner and most countries, including South Korea and Australia.
Between 2013 and 2015, Netflix and Amazon more than doubled their annual expenditure on programming, claims the report. In 2013, Amazon spent $1.22 billion; that jumped to $2.67 billion in 2015. In the same period, Netflix spending rose from $2.38 billion to $4.91 billion.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
