[1andrew1]

Interesting article on how Netflix is becoming more traditional on rights.

Key excerpts below.

Netflix is starting to look more like traditional TV

The concept of sharing rights is no longer taboo. Flexibility is the order of the day.

From introducing advertising to developing live programming, Netflix is looking more like the incumbent broadcasters it was created to unseat.

Netflix, of course, has been one of the great beneficiaries of shared rights. Even today, much of its library is made up of shows licensed for secondary use. Hits such as Schitt’s Creek or Peaky Blinders were first broadcast elsewhere before landing on the Netflix platform.

This has some peculiar effects. Ofcom, the UK’s media regulator, recently examined how often shows licensed from the BBC, Channel 4 and other public service broadcasters were streamed on Netflix in the UK.

The estimate was 510mn times in the first quarter of 2022 — almost a third of what Netflix’s own original content attracted during the same period. One survey participant told Ofcom they didn’t bother watching a traditional TV channel (free-to-air) because they could simply wait for their shows to “turn up on Netflix” (behind a subscription paywall).

But for less prominent original content, it has also become more open to discussing “windowing”, where a programme maker can sell a show to traditional TV after it has appeared on Netflix for a set period of time. The gamble for the producer is taking a lower payment in return for extra rights.

https://www.ft.com/content/06a16b89-...0-e518877ac484