Netflix cancellations surge after reed Reed Hastings donates to American presidential candidate Kamala Harris

by Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg

Netflix suffered a surge in cancellations in the days after its co-founder and chairman, Reed Hastings, endorsed Kamala Harris for president and donated millions to her campaign.

The rate of cancellations – churn in industry parlance – nearly tripled in the United States after his endorsement, according to the researcher Antenna. The streaming giant has the lowest churn in the industry.

Customers in the United States cancelled Netflix at a higher rate in July - 2.8% - than any month since February.

That is largely due to the company's decision to phase out its basic tier. Basic was the cheapest advertising-free version of Netflix. But the five-day period after Hastings' endorsement was unusual, even for July.

Hastings, a longtime Democratic donor, endorsed Harris in a post on the social media platform X on 22 July. A day later, Hastings told The Information that he donated $7 million to a pro-Harris super PAC.

Shortly after Hastings' endorsement, fans of Donald Trump began urging people to drop the service.

Some posted photos showing they had closed their accounts alongside the hashtag #CancelNetflix. Three days later after the donation became public, 26 July, was the single worst day for Netflix cancellations this year. 

The company declined to comment while Hastings didn't respond to a request for comment.

The spike in cancellations at Netflix lasted just a few days. It wasn't as severe as the reaction in 2020 when conservatives asked Netflix to take down the French movie Cuties, which they felt exploited children.

The long-term effect of these incidents can be hard to gauge. Advertisers and companies were eager to speak out on social issues following the murder of George Floyd. Many companies raced to show their support for the Black community and started new programs or initiatives to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (or DEI).

Netflix shifted cash to black-owned banks while Hastings donated to historically black universities.

Yet in recent years opponents have started to take on DEI initiatives. 

Sales of Bud Light tanked after an advertising campaign featuring a transgender influencer sparked a boycott by conservatives. Critics of DEI have been emboldened since the Supreme Court ruled affirmative action programs designed to boost racial diversity on college campuses are discriminatory.

Entertainment companies have faced a backlash after their executives took a stance on political issues.

Walt Disney spent two years battling Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after the company criticised a law that restricts classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. The company has also faced questions in recent weeks for the close relationship between Harris and its entertainment co-chair, Dana Walden, who oversees ABC News.

Hastings has always been civic-minded. 

He was working on education reform when he started Netflix and has devoted a lot of time and money over the years to charter schools. As his wealth has grown, he and his wife have given billions to philanthropic causes. 

He wasn't as outspoken about elections until more recently. But earlier this year, he was a vocal and public member of the chorus of celebrities and executives calling for Joe Biden to step out of the American presidential race.

Netflix has always tried to keep Hastings' donations and politics separate from its business. Eager to appeal to viewers of all persuasions all over the world, the company is sensitive to any perception that it's politically biased. Disney faces a similar conundrum.

Like most companies in entertainment and Silicon Valley, Netflix's employees lean to the left politically. 

Co-CEO Ted Sarandos is married to Nicole Avant, a former ambassador in the Obama administration. Sarandos and Avant are active in politics and were advocates for Rick Caruso in the Los Angeles mayoral race in 2022.

Netflix reports financial results in mid-October.

Netflix releases viewership data for its catalogue content including South African shows.

by Thinus Ferreira

Under pressure from advertisers and the larger industry to be more transparent about the ratings of its content Netflix late on Tuesday night released the first of what it said would be a biannual list of all its shows and films and their hours viewed.

The searchable list that can be viewed and downloaded here contains the titles of 99% of the shows and films that are currently within Netflix's entire viewing catalogue.

Netflix's new searchable list of over 18 000 titles is the first of its What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report, with the Excel document releasing the number of hours per title watched between January and June 2023.

The list includes the viewing hours of South African productions like the third season of Blood and Water (10.3 million hours), the first season of Savage Beauty (8.2 million hours), the first season of Young, Famous and African (6.2 million hours), the first season of Ludik (5.9 million), and films like Silverton Siege (4.8 million hours) and Trippin' with the Kandasamys (300 000 hours).

Viewing of South African content paled in comparison with Netflix's most viewed content during the period like the first season of The Night Agent (812.1 million hours), Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (503 million hours) and the first season of Wednesday (507.7 million hours). 

Netflix's reluctance to release ratings data has been a move that was later parroted by streamers that launched after it, like Disney+, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video and MultiChoice's Showmax that send out press releases often touting "record-viewership" or "new record viewing" but without providing any actual viewership data for advertisers or the industry to track content success or failure.

"This is a big step forward for Netflix and our industry," the global video streamer said in a statement.

"We believe the viewing information in this report - combined with our weekly Top 10 and Most Popular lists - will give creators and our industry deeper insights into our audiences, and what resonates with them."

The list gives the hours viewers for every title, original and licensed, watched for over 50 000 hours, the premiere date for any Netflix TV series or film, and whether a title was available globally.

Netflix noted that returning favourites and film sequels did well during the six months on the streamers like Ginny & Georgia, Alice in Borderland, The Marked Heart, Outer Banks, You, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, XO Kitty, as well as Murder Mystery 2 and Extraction 2. 

Netflix also touted the popularity of new series like The Night Agent, The Diplomat, Beef, The Glory, Alpha Males, FUBAR and Fake Profile that it said "generate huge audiences and fandoms". 

Netflix also noted the "enthusiasm for non-English stories, which generated 30% of all viewing", as well as the "staying power of titles on Netflix which extends well beyond their premieres" Netflix also says the demand for older, licensed titles "generates tremendous value for our members and for rights holders".

During a half-hour press conference on Tuesday night Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO, said "The unintended consequence of not having more transparent data about our engagement was that it created an atmosphere of mistrust over time with producers and creators and the press about what was happening on Netflix".

He called the release of the Netflix viewership data report "an important milestone for our industry".

"The most effective way to measure engagement is viewed hours. It's easy to understand, it mirrors measuring parties like Nielsen in the United States and it makes Netflix very easy to compare to other services," Sarandos said.

"Over time we've been getting increasingly more and more transparent about what people are watching on Netflix. When we started streaming 16 years ago, it was a pretty exotic proposition. There were no other streamers to compare to us and comparing live TV or live+7 to Netflix on-demand was like comparing apples to oranges."

"As we've grown, streaming has become more mainstream, so we've become much more open." He said that the start of the release of the list which will be done twice a year is "on the continuum of transparency as streaming has become more and more mainstream that it's more on par with other forms of media that have quite accessible information about how things are performing."

He said the release of the viewership data "creates a better environment for the guilds, for us, for the producers, creators, and for the press".

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos promises greater ratings transparency.

by Thinus Ferreira

After releasing its third-quarter results on Wednesday night, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos promised that the video streaming service is working on greater ratings transparency.

Netflix has refused to make specific viewership data available for its content – an approach which was then adopted by other streaming services like Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and MultiChoice's Showmax that touts "record-breaking viewership" in press releases for the debut of shows without supplying the industry or media with any actual numbers or verified metrics.

In Netflix's usual pre-recorded earnings call and analysts' interview which once again followed the publication of its Q3 results, Ted Sarandos claimed that producers and talent feel "pretty trapped" by ratings information.

However, much greater insight and release of ratings and viewership data is one of the big sticking and negotiation points in the protracted actors' strike in America, with the actors' union SAG-AFTRA demanding greater viewership and ratings clarity from streamers since the information influences residual payments to artists.

"It was part of our promise with creators at the time we started creating original programming – our creators felt like they were pretty trapped in this kind of overnight ratings world and weekend box office world defining their success and failures," he explained on Wednesday night.

"And as we all know, a show might have enormous success down the road and it wasn't captured in that opening box office. So part of this was the relationship with talent – not just the business aspects of it. And I do think that, over time, people are much more interested in this."

"We're on the continuum today of, how much data do we publish? I think we've been leading the charge, starting everyone down the path of a Top 10, publishing our Top 10 list and our annual wrap-up list and everything to give a lot of transparency to the viewing and I just expect will be more and more transparent."

Ted Sarandos said "At the beginning, we thought there was a hard kind of apples-and-oranges comparison between ratings and streaming. I think we've gotten to a place where it's mostly based on engagement and it does measure the value of watching".

"Things will become much more transparent the way that TV has always had ratings and music has always had Billboard and theatrical has always had box office. So, it'll be much more common."

Netflix: Not all shows to be on its cheaper ad-funded tier, predicts linear TV will be dead in a decade.

by Thinus Ferreira

Netflix plans to add ads for a new advertising-funded, cheaper tier which the global streaming service plans to roll out in early 2023, although co-CEO Ted Sarandos told investors on Tuesday night that some Netflix shows and content won't be available on this cheaper plan.

Netflix also predicts the end of linear TV within the next 5 to 10 years.

On Tuesday night in its second quarter results, Netflix announced that it lost another 970 000 subscribers, although its more than a million subscribers less than what it expected and predicted in its market forecast in April when it projected that it could likely lose another 2 million subscribers by the end of June.

Netflix now has 220.67 million subscribers worldwide and expects to add subscribers again during its third quarter of this year, predicting an addition of 1 million subscribers between July and the end of September this year.

Netflix lost subscribers in the United States and Canada during the quarter, and also saw subscribers losses across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Netflix added 1000 subscribers in Latin America and 1.8 million subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region.

In Netflix's recorded investor's message for its second quarter results, CEO Ted Sarandos warned that not all Netflix content will be available to subscribers to opt for the cheaper ad-funded tier when it's launched globally.

The ad-funded Netflix tier will include all Netflix Original shows and content since Netflix owns that, but some other content licenced from American and other international studios and distributors will not be available on the cheaper plan.

"The vast majority of what people watch on Netflix we can include in the ad-supported tier today. Some things we're in conversations with studios on. We will clear some additional content. Not all of it," Ted Sarandos said.

Last week Netflix announced that it will be partnering with Microsoft as its technology and sales partner in launching an advertiser-funded tier with the aim of trying to curb churn and subscriber losses that stunned Hollywood and investors.

In its usual shareholder letter accompanying its quarterly results, Netflix said that Microsoft is "investing heavily to expand their multi-billion advertising business into premium television video, and we are thrilled to be working with such a strong global partner".

"We're excited by the opportunity given the combination of our very engaged audience and high-quality content, which we think will attract premium CPMs from brand advertisers."

"We'll likely start in a handful of markets where advertising spend is significant. Like most of our new initiatives, our intention is to roll it out, listen and learn, and iterate quickly to improve the offering. So, our advertising business in a few years will likely look quite different than what it looks like on day one."

"Over time, our hope is to create a better-than-linear-TV advertisement model that's more seamless and relevant for consumers. While it will take some time to grow our member base for the ad tier and the associated ad revenues, over the long run, we think advertising can enable substantial incremental membership (through lower prices) and profit growth (through ad revenues)," Netflix said.

"We've been through hard times before. We've built this company to be flexible and adaptable and this will be a great test for us and our high-performance culture."

"Were fortunate to be in a position of strength as the leader in streaming entertainment by all metrics (revenue, engagement, subscribers, profit and free cash flow). We're confident and optimistic about the future."

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings, in the earnings recording, predicted the end of traditional linear television within the next decade, saying "It's definitely the end of linear TV over the next 5 to 10 years".

Rival streamer Disney+, now also available in South Africa, also plans to roll out a cheaper ad-funded tier for subscribers within months.

In improved viewership transparency effort Netflix launches a new weekly Top 10 site with viewership data lists about its global audience as well as for 90 countries.

by Thinus Ferreira

On Tuesday night Netflix launched a new viewership website and viewership lists, "Netflix Top 10" where the global video streaming service said it would from now on publish, on a weekly basis, various top 10 lists for its film and TV content.

The new weekly Netflix viewership data release on Top10.Netflix.com is in line with Netflix's recent promise to be more transparent with the industry about its various viewership metrics, with Netflix that plans to include the publication of occasional "speciality lists" about various genre viewership on its service as well.

From now on Netflix will publish a weekly "Netflix Top 10" every Tuesday. This list will be based on hours viewed from Monday to Sunday the previous week, for both original Netflix as well as licensed titles. 

Netflix is breaking down the various lists available into a global top 10 lists for Films (English), TV (English), Films (non-English) and TV (non-English), as well as customised rankings for over 90 countries. 

At launch, the "Netflix Top 10" website is available in English and Spanish, with the streamer that plans to roll out more language options in 2022.

Each season of a series is measured separately, so seasons 2 and season 3 of Stranger Things might appear at the same time on a specific list. Weekly reporting is rounded to 10 000 to account for any fluctuations in internet connectivity around the world.  

Last month Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos promised the industry that Netflix is "trying to be more transparent with talent; with the market", and admitted that the service's user data and ratings have been a "big black box, mostly" for the past number of years.

Netflix is now becoming more transparent about its viewership information, although companies like South Africa's MultiChoice - that slavishly followed Netflix's playbook of being completely secretive about how many people are watching what - is still cagey and untransparent about the ratings, subscriber count and actual viewership data of its Showmax video streaming service in South Africa and across Africa.

Last week Friday Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice CEO, during the investors' call for the release of MultiChoice's latest 6-months financial report until the end of September 2021, told investors that MultiChoice is still not willing to divulge any Showmax subscriber counts or willing to be more transparent about any specific viewership information because of "competitors" like Netflix. 

Meanwhile Showmax continues to release vapid press releases devoid of any actual empirical ratings or viewership data as Showmax continues to make unsubstantiated "record viewership" claims for its small but growing service.

'An important step forward'

The new weekly "Netflix Top 10" lists are in addition to Netflix's daily country Top 10 that the streamer introduced in 2020, which will now also be based on hours viewed.

From now on Netflix will update its overall lists - first published in September 2021 - as new titles become "mega hits". These lists are based on the total hours viewed in a title's first 28 days on Netflix.

Netflix is making use of the independent accounting firm EY that will review Netflix's new metrics, with Netflix that will publish EY's report in 2022.

Netflix has stated that figuring out how best to measure "success in streaming" is hard and that traditional measures like box office or share of audience - designed to help advertisers understand success on linear TV - is no longer relevant to most streamers, including Netflix.

"Having looked at the different options, we believe engagement, as measured by hours viewed, is a strong indicator of a title's popularity, as well as overall member satisfaction, which is important for retention in subscription services," Netflix says.

"We recognise, however, that hours viewed does favour longer series and films."

Netflix, therefore, plans to occasionally publish speciality lists as well, for example, top documentary features or reality shows.

Netflix says that the new viewership lists and methodology is "an important step forward for Netflix, the creators we work with and our members."

"People want to understand what success means in a streaming world, and these lists offer the clearest answer to that question in our industry."

"Most of all, though, we hope our new weekly Top 10 on Netflix will help fans discover new stories and join new conversations - whether it's understanding your friend's new-found passion for chess, the value of a won or what's going on with all those cool cats and kittens."  

ALSO READ: MultiChoice's Showmax once again make an unsubstantiated viewership record claim, this time for Devilsdorp - here's what Showmax and some other streamers don't want to tell and don't want you to know.

Comedian Hannah Gadsby slams Netflix boss Ted Sarandos over his tone-deaf defence of dangerously transphobic Dave Chappelle special: 'F*** you and your amoral algorithm cult'.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby slammed Netflix co-boss Ted Sarandos on Friday morning over his tone-deaf comments defending Netflix's dangerously transphobic Dave Chappelle comedy special with Gadsby saying that she now has to "deal with even more of the hate and anger that Dave Chappelle's fans like to unleash on me" and saying to Ted: "F*** you and your amoral algorithm cult".

The Australian comedian did the Nanette comedy special in 2018 for Netflix.

Over a thousand Netflix staffers are planning to join a walkout on Wednesday who are furious over Ted Sarandos' scandalous handling over the transphobic Dave Chappelle comedy special The Closer, with Ted Sarandos who said that content like that doesn't translate to real-world harm. 

Angry Netflix staffers who are in revolt, say that Netflix repeatedly release content that harms the trans community.

In Ted Sarandos' two strikingly tone-deaf and dismissive internal memos to Netflix staffers, he said that The Closer is fine to be on Netflix although it's transphobic because it's popular and that it's even out by other content like "Sex Education, Orange Is the New Black, Control Z, Hannah Gadsby and Dave Chappelle all on Netflix".

Last week Netflix abruptly suspended 3 of its staffers who criticised Netflix over its transphobic content after they attended a virtual executives meeting that they were send a link for to join. 

Days later Netflix lifted their suspension following growing controversy and increasing public backlash over Netflix's misguided handling of the inflamed situation.

Bloomberg reports that Netflix staffers raised serious concerns inside the company before the shocking transphobic content was released, with the damaged Netflix and its tone-deaf bosses now confronted with the biggest internal revolt from staff in its history because of its offensive material. 

It was Bela Bajaria, Netflix's global head of TV, and Ted Sarandos who both decided that the transphobic content is fine for Netflix to push out to its millions of subscribers.

On Friday Hannah Gadsby wrote on her Instagram account: "Hey Ted Sarandos. Just a quick note to let you know that I would prefer if you didn't drag my name into your mess."

"Now I have to deal with even more of the hate and anger that Dave Chappelle's fans like to unleash on me every time Dave gets 20 million dollars to process his emotionally stunted partial word view."

"You didn't pay me nearly enough to deal with the real-world consequences of the hate speech dog-whistling you refuse to acknowledge, Ted."

"F*** you and your amoral algorithm cult… I do s**** with more backbone than you. That's just a joke! I definitely didn't cross a line because there isn't one."

ALSO READ: NETFLIX STAFF REVOLT. Over a thousand Netflix staffers to stage walkout over boss Ted Sarandos' bad handling of transphobic Dave Chappelle comedy special as he says content doesn't translate to real-world harm; angry staffers say 'Netflix repeatedly release content that harms the trans community'.

ALSO READ: Netflix boss Ted Sarandos says latest dangerously transphobic Dave Chappelle comedy special doesn't cross the line of hate-speech as Netflix suspends its staffers who complain.

ALSO READ: Netflix ends suspension of staffers who complained over streamer's dangerously transphobic Dave Chappelle comedy special. 

Netflix and Unesco launch African Folktales Reimagined short film competition for young filmmakers in sub-Saharan Africa.

by Thinus Ferreira

Netflix and Unesco are teaming up to run a "African Folktales, Reimagined" competition and will choose 6 winners from across Africa who will each get a $75 000 (R1.1 million) production budget through a local production company to create short films that will premiere on the global video streaming service on 2022 as an "Anthology of African folktales".

Young filmmakers between 18 and 35 years old will be able to enter from 14 October until 14 November 2021 with the competition that Netflix says is aiming to "discover new voices and to give emerging filmmakers in sub-Saharan Africa visibility on a global scale".

"We want to find the bravest, wittiest, and most surprising retellings of some of Africa's most-loved folktales and share them with entertainment fans around the world in over 190 countries."

Netflix says that it wants the winners to be "truly inclusive", no matter their language, race or ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.

The 6 winners will have to develop, shoot and post-produce their films under the guidance of industry mentors selected by Unesco and Netflix to ensure everyone involved in the production is fairly compensated. Besides the $75 000 film budget, each of the 6 winners will also receive an additional $25 000 (R368 000) as prize.

Unesco and Netflix in a joint press release say that they recognize that many emerging filmmakers "struggle with finding the right resources and visibility to enable them to fully unleash their talents and develop their creative careers".

"This competition aims to address these issues and enable African storytellers to take a first step towards showcasing their content to a global audience".

The "African Folktales, Reimagined" competition is open to emerging filmmakers across sub-Saharan Africa and for the first round applicants will be required to submit a synopsis of their concept in no more than 500 words, as well as links to a recent CV and a portfolio or evidence of any past audiovisual work they have produced.

The film concept cannot be a documentary nor an animation form. These applications can be submitted online at www.netflix-growcreative.com/unesco from 14 October 14th at 16:00 CAT and proposals can be submitted in English, French, or Portuguese.  

A African folktale is considered to be a timeless story circulated orally among African people and handed down from one generation to the next.

"This competition puts a global spotlight on the emerging, homegrown talents of Africa while honouring the storytelling tradition of the continent," says Ernesto Ottone R., assistant director-general for culture at Unesco, in the statement.

"By infusing new energy into the folktales, these young filmmakers enable these stories to transcend time, space and culture - from their communities, through a digital platform, into the hearts of audiences around the world."

Ted Sarandos, co-CEO and chief content officer at Netflix, says "Growing up, entertainment was how I connected with people. I fell in love with the stories and characters I saw on screen and experienced how storytelling has the power to inspire, which is why I’m excited about this partnership with UNESCO and the opportunities ahead"

"Together we will promote local cultures and support the creative industries in telling stories that cross borders, reflect universal truths, and ultimately, bring us together."

Ben Amadasun, director of content in Africa at Netflix, says "Africa has a rich storytelling heritage and a wealth of folktales that have been passed down for generations".

"When you marry these very local stories with Africa’s emerging talent, there’s no limit to fresh new stories to connect people with African cultures and bring the world that much closer to each other."

People who want to apply must have a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 5 years of demonstrable professional experience in the audio-visual industry and must have developed and produced 1 to 2 theatrical feature films, television fiction, documentaries, or 2 to 3 short films or commercials.

Applicants must be between 18 and 35 years old.

The shortlisted 20 candidates will be announced in January 2022 and will then be invited to a "How to pitch to Netflix" workshop to guide them on how to prepare, polish, and present their film concepts. 

An independent judging panel, under the guidance of Unesco and Netflix will then choose the 6 winners, who will then develop their 12 to 20-minute short films under the guidance of industry mentors.

The films will launch between September and October 2022 on Netflix.

NETFLIX STAFF REVOLT. Over thousand Netflix staffers to stage walkout over boss Ted Sarandos' bad handling of transphobic Dave Chappelle comedy special as he says content doesn't translate to real-world harm; angry staffers say 'Netflix repeatedly release content that harms the trans community'.

by Thinus Ferreira

Netflix staff are in revolt with over 1 000 planning to stage a protest walkout next week over shocking comments from their boss and co-CEO Ted Sarandos and his horrible handling over the transphobic Dave Chappelle comedy special.

Angry and upset Netflix staffers across the world are planning to stage a public protest and virtual walkout on Wednesday 20 October.

It comes after Ted Sarandos inflamed an already bad situation inside the video streaming company with yet another aggressive memo to staffers saying that Netflix won't remove the shockingly transphobic comedy special The Closer by Dave Chappelle in which he mocks gender identifies and defends J.K. Rowling's transphobic remarks.

Last week Netflix abruptly suspended 3 of its staffers who criticised Netflix over its transphobic content after they attended a virtual executives meeting that they were send a link for to join. 

Days later Netflix lifted their suspension following growing controversy and increasing public backlash over Netflix's misguided handling of the inflamed situation.

Bloomberg reports that Netflix staffers raised serious concerns inside the company before the shocking transphobic content was released, with the damaged Netflix and its tone-deaf bosses now confronted with the biggest internal revolt from staff in its history because of its offensive material. 

It was Bela Bajaria, Netflix's global head of TV, and Ted Sarandos who both decided that the transphobic content is fine for Netflix to push out to its millions of subscribers.

During next week's Netflix walkout, over a thousand staffers won't be doing any work and will focus their efforts on donating to charities and engaging with content that support the trans community.

The Netflix walkout has been organised and is being led by the trans employee resource group inside Netflix but they are being joined by hundreds of other Netflix staffers who share their sentiment and who are all extremely upset at Ted Sarandos after his statements in two internal staff memos.

"Trans Lives Matter. Trans Rights Matter. And as an organisation, Netflix has continually failed to show deep care in our mission to Entertain the World by repeatedly releasing content that harms the Trans community and continually failing to create content that represents and uplifts Trans content" a staffer wrote in a message. "We can and must do better!"

Organisers of the Netflix walkout wrote that "As we've discussed through Slack, email and text our leadership has shown us they do not uphold the values to which we are held".

"Between the numerous emails and non-answers that have been given, we have been told explicitly that we somehow cannot understand the nuance of certain content."

"I encourage us to state clearly that we as Netflix employees are stunning not simply when we are doing the work that our roles demand of us, but also when we challenge the very principles of our company."

The growing backlash and walkout comes after Ted Sarandos issued a first memo to staffers in which he said that Netflix won't remove The Closer because it's popular and that Netflix can have it as content since it does "good" content as well to balance it out.

Ted Sarandos then wrote a second memo to staff on Monday, this time claiming that "content on screen doesn't directly translate to real-world harm".

"The strongest evidence to support this is that violence on screens has grown hugely over the last 30 years, especially with first party shooter games, and yet violent crime has fallen significantly in many countries."

"Adults can watch violence, assault and abuse - or enjoy shocking stand-up comedy - without it causing them to harm others."

In his memo Ted Sarandos says "We know that a number of you have been left angry, disappointed and hurt by our decision to put Dave Chappelle's latest special on Netflix" and that Netflix is "working hard to ensure marginalised communities aren’t defined by a single story".

The LGBTQ+ advocacy group, GLAAD in a statement commenting on Ted Sarandos' second Wednesday mem, slammed Ted Sarandos and said that "GLAAD was founded 36 years ago because media representation has consequences for LGBTQ people".

"Authentic media stories about LGBTQ lives have been cited as directly responsible for increasing public support for issues like marriage equality."

"But film and TV have also been filled with stereotypes and misinformation about us for decades, leading to real world harm, especially for trans people and LGBTQ people of colour. Ironically, the documentary Disclosure on Netflix demonstrates this quite clearly."

The queer author Preston Mitchum wrote on Wednesday in an opinion piece that "Make no mistake: Chappelle's alleged jokes do not impact hypothetical people; they, in fact, cause real harm to transgender and nonbinary viewers and black LGBTQ youth who may have once looked up to him as a role model".

The Los Angeles Times on Thursday slammed Ted Sarandos in an opinion piece, noting that his memos on Dave Chappelle "is a masterwork of gaslighting" and "a master class in psycho-villain monologuing".

"Ted understands that Dave Chappelle's tale of beating up a lesbian, which begins with him explaining that he thought she was a man and ends with him pounding her breasts like they were 'chicken fillets', or his apparent belief that all queer people are white might upset a few staff members," The Los Angeles Times notes.

"As Dave Chappelle knows all too well, lots of people are bigoted; lots of people think anyone who doesn't look like them should just shut up and take it. Many people will watch The Closer for the same reason they watch Fox News. Because it validates the way they already feel. That's the problem."

Netflix in a statement on Wednesday about the looking walkout and internal Netflix staff revolt said that Netflix encourages its workers to "disagree openly".

"Dave Chappelle's specials are consistently the most-watched comedy specials on Netflix, and have earned many awards, including both an Emmy and a Grammy for Sticks and Stones. We support artistic expression for our creators. We also encourage our employees to disagree openly."

Read Ted Sarandos second memo to Netflix staffers issued on Monday below:

"We know that a number of you have been left angry, disappointed and hurt by our decision to put Dave Chappelle’s latest special on Netflix. Also, we have many new colleagues who want to better understand the principles that guide our team’s content choices, especially with challenging titles like this.

Our goal is to entertain the world, which means programming for a diversity of tastes. This member-centric view has driven our growth over the last 20 years, despite all the competition, and remains Netflix’s north star today. 

We also support artistic freedom to help attract the best creators, and push back on government and other censorship requests. 

Our Entertain the World and Strategy Bets memos, which we’ve debated extensively, are clear about both principles – including the trade offs, i.e. that we’ll always have titles some members and employees dislike or believe are harmful.

With The Closer, we understand that the concern is not about offensive-to-some content but titles which could increase real world harm (such as further marginalizing already marginalized groups, hate, violence etc.) Last year, we heard similar concerns about 365 Days and violence against women. While some employees disagree, we have a strong belief that content on screen doesn’t directly translate to real-world harm.

The strongest evidence to support this is that violence on screens has grown hugely over the last thirty years, especially with first party shooter games, and yet violent crime has fallen significantly in many countries. 

Adults can watch violence, assault and abuse – or enjoy shocking stand-up comedy – without it causing them to harm others. We are working hard to ensure marginalized communities aren’t defined by a single story. So we have Sex Education, Orange is the New Black, Control Z, Hannah Gadsby and Dave Chappelle all on Netflix. Key to this is increasing diversity on the content team itself.

In his special, Chappelle makes harsh jokes about many different groups, which is his style and a reason his fans love his comedy and commentary. 

Stand-up comedians often expose issues that are uncomfortable because the art by nature is a highly provocative. As a leadership team, we do not believe that The Closer is intended to incite hatred or violence against anyone (per our Sensitive Content guidelines).

We've had these operating principles around pleasing our members and artistic expression for many years, and the team’s decision to put The Closer on our service was consistent with them. 

The variety and quality of our content is what members value most. Our hope is that you can be hugely inspired by entertaining the world, while also living with titles you strongly believe have no place on Netflix. This will not be the last title that causes some of you to wonder if you can still love Netflix. I sincerely hope that you can.

-Ted"

ALSO READ: Netflix boss Ted Sarandos says latest dangerously transphobic Dave Chappelle comedy special doesn't cross the line of hate-speech as Netflix suspends its staffers who complain.
ALSO READ: Netflix ends suspension of staffers who complained over streamer's dangerously transphobic Dave Chappelle comedy special.

Netflix boss Ted Sarandos says latest dangerously transphobic Dave Chappelle comedy special doesn't cross the line of hate-speech as Netflix suspends its staffers who complain.

by Thinus Ferreira

With Netflix once again facing public criticism its boss Ted Sarandos is telling the video streaming service's staffers that the latest dangerously transphobic Dave Chappelle comedy special isn't hate-speech, with Netflix that has suspended three of its employees who complained about the content and who are criticising Netflix, including a trans person.

Ted Sarandos says Netflix talent in coming days may join growing calls for the Dave Chappelle comedy content to be removed, that Ted Sarandos says "we are not going to do".

Netflix has also suspended Terra Field, a Netflix senior software engineer based in San Francisco who is a trans person, and who is one of three people who attended a virtual meeting for Netflix top bosses and who criticised the company for the Dave Chappelle comedy special. 

Netflix suspended them and has launched an investigation into their actions. 

Dave Chapelle accuses the trans community of having "thin skin" in his The Closer comedy special on Netflix amongst other things.

Various American organisations like GLAAD, the National Black Justice Coalition  and others have issued statements, saying that Netflix's latest Dave Chappelle content is damaging, hurtful, dismissive and cruel.

In public tweets, Terra Field wrote that Netflix "launched another Chappelle special where he attacks the trans community, and the very validity of transness – all while trying to pit us against other marginalized groups. You're going to hear a lot of talk about 'offense'. We are not offended."

Terra Field says that "our existence is 'funny' to him – and when we object to his harm, we're 'offended' ".

Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO, in a memo sent to Netflix staffers on Friday, says "there will also be content on Netflix some people believe is harmful" and that Netflix won't remove the controversial content.

"Chapelle is one of the most popular stand-up comedians today, and we have a long standing deal with him. His last special Sticks & Stones, also controversial, is our most watched, stickiest and most award-winning stand-up special to date."

"As with our other talent, we work hard to support their creative freedom - even though this means there will always be content on Netflix some people believe is harmful, like Cuties, 365 Days, 13 Reasons Why or My Unorthodox Life."

"Several of you have also asked where we draw the line on hate. We don't allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don't believe The Closer crosses that line."

"I recognize, however, that distinguishing between commentary and harm is hard, especially with stand-up comedy which exists to push boundaries. Some people find the art of stand-up to be mean-spirited but our members enjoy it, and it's an important part of our content offering."

Read Ted Sarandos' memo to Netflix staffers below in full:

"I wanted to follow up on The Closer – Dave Chappelle’s latest special – as several of you have reached out following QBR asking what to say to your teams."

"It never feels good when people are hurting, especially our colleagues, so I wanted to give you some additional context. You should also be aware that some talent may join third parties in asking us to remove the show in the coming days, which we are not going to do."

"Chappelle is one of the most popular stand-up comedians today, and we have a long standing deal with him. His last special, Sticks & Stones, also controversial, is our most watched, stickiest, and most award winning stand-up special to date."

"As with our other talent, we work hard to support their creative freedom – even though this means there will always be content on Netflix some people believe is harmful, like Cuties, 365 Days, 13 Reasons Why, or My Unorthodox Life."

"Several of you have also asked where we draw the line on hate. We don't allow titles on Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don't believe The Closer crosses that line."

"I recognise, however, that distinguishing between commentary and harm is hard, especially with stand-up comedy which exists to push boundaries. Some people find the art of stand-up to be mean-spirited but our members enjoy it, and it's an important part of our content offering."

"In terms of our commitment to inclusion, we're working hard to ensure more people see their lives reflected on screen and that under-represented communities are not defined by the single story. So we're proud of titles like Sex Education, Young Royals, Control Z and Disclosure."

"Externally, particularly in stand-up comedy, artistic freedom is obviously a very different standard of speech than we allow internally as the goals are different: entertaining people versus maintaining a respectful, productive workplace."

"Today's conversation on Entertain the World was timely. These are hard and uncomfortable issues. We all bring different values and perspectives so thank you for being part of the conversation as it's important we're clear about our operating principles."

"-Ted"

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos reveals Bridgerton as streamer's most watched TV show, Extraction and Bird Box as its most-watched films, says Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ is an 'awards-ey show' with very small audience.

by Thinus Ferreira

Netflix has released the video streaming service's top 10 most popular TV shows and films, ranked by number of households that watched, and the overall time spent watching, with Shonda Rhimes' Bridgerton topping the list in the number one spot on both lists, and the film Extraction placed first for most households watching, and the film Bird Box placed first for most time spent watching.

Ted Sarandos, Netflix CEO, spoke at the Vox Media Code Conference on Monday in Los Angeles and gave what he described as "the most comprehensive look so far" at the video streamer's most watched TV shows and films.

Although still largely guarding its viewable information but now tracked independently by Nielsen and other ratings companies for the TV and film industry, Netflix has steadily been moving to become more transparent about its audience numbers.

Streaming services like MultiChoice's Showmax in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa still remains tight-lipped about its actual users and viewership, issuing only vague, non-descript viewership claims without any actual ratings numbers. 

It's because Showmax and others, although growing, are doing so from a very small base, and ratings would give an indication of how small these services still are compared to legacy broadcast channels and services.

In his speech at the Vox Media Code Conference, Ted Sarandos said that Netflix is "trying to be more transparent with talent; with the market", admitting that Netflix's user data and ratings has been a "big black box, mostly" for the past number of years.

Netflix now counts a "view" of its content when a users streamed something for 2 minutes.

Ted Sarandos showed two slides, with the information that is based on Netflix's own internal monitoring of how its users are consuming its content, and that is based on the data of the first 28-days of release of a title.

The spiced-up period drama Bridgerton from Shonda Rhimes ranks number one on Netflix's list of the TV show that racked up the most views from households, as well as the time spent viewing over 4 weeks, with Bridgerton coming in at 82 million accounts, and 625 million hours watched.

The film Extraction with Chris Hemsworth tops the list as the number one film on the list of households that watched (99 million),with Bird Box in the second spot (89 million), with Bird Box topping the film list of most time spent watching (282 million hours).

Ted Sarandos mentioned that the non-English Korean survival drama series Squid Game that was released on Netflix on 17 September is on track to become the most popular Netflix show ever, and is currently ranking as the number one show globally on Netflix.

"We did not see that coming, in terms of its global popularity," he said, noting that Netflix is "competing with ourselves". 

Ted Sarandos also dismissed Ted Lasso of Apple's Apple TV+ streaming service that last week won several Emmy Awards, as an "awards-ey show" that very likely only has a very small audience. 

Like Showmax, Apple TV+ is also deliberately opaque about releasing any viewership information and has never released ratings data or how many subscribers it has as it lags far behind bigger global streaming services like Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.

"The thing I'm concerned with over the next decade is, can we continue to execute at scale. To me that's more troubling that any competition in the marketplace," Ted Sarandos said.

Netflix ended the second quarter of 2021 with 209.18 million paid global streaming subscribers.

ALSO READ: MultiChoice's Showmax once again make an unsubstantiated viewership record claim, this time for Devilsdorp - here's what Showmax and some other streamers don't want to tell and don't want you to know.

Coronavirus: Netflix content boss Ted Sarandos says 'Every one of our productions around the world are shut down'; says streamer works far ahead so will continue to roll out new shows.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Netflix content boss says the world's largest video streaming service has shut down all of its productions worldwide but that its service won't be impacted for now with staffers globally working from home and with enough upcoming completed shows that will roll out in the months ahead.

Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, spoke on Reliable Sources on CNN International (DStv 401) on Sunday night, about the drastic impact of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus on the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, and said that "It's been a massive disruption - every one of our productions around the world are shut down".

"We've had a lot of folks who all suddenly found themselves - without notice - to be out of work, so we're figuring out ways to keep productivity up but in general what we're trying to do is to make sure that people are taking care of their families and worrying about that first."

"When we were forced to shut down productions the first thing we did was that everyone on those sets, everybody on those crews knew that they were being paid for the next two weeks as if they were there. We've sent all of our employees home to work from home - even in roles that are not necessarily conducive to doing that," explained Ted Sarandos.

"We're trying to keep things business as usual as we can in a time of great uncertainty for people - we hope this brings them some economic comfort and emotional comfort."

He said Netflix won't be running out of content or new shows. "We work pretty far ahead, we deliver all of our shows with all episodes at once and we're pretty far ahead. We don't see any disruption in our output over the next few months."

"Maybe later in the year, if this progresses long, we'll start feeling some of that as the physical production is not operating but the creative process has been remarkably adaptive and we've been able to do things like virtual meeting rooms."

"One of our shows, Big Mouth, did their first virtual table read. We had 40 actors, writers with Netflix executives all doing a table read of a new episode. So people are getting geared up for a time when we do get back to work," Ted Sarandos said.

"All viewing is up - on Netflix, on CNN, viewing is up on television. The internet system has been very robust and can handle it but people are certainly watching a lot more Netflix."

In South Africa broadcasters and pay-TV services like MultiChoice, the SABC and e.tv have not ordered the shut down of its locally-produced shows including the flurry of weekday soaps, with the country's largest studio complexes in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban who all remain operational with large casts and crews where collectively thousands of people work on sets in front of and behind the cameras.

Unlike cinemas in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and elsewhere, both Ster-Kinekor  and Nu Metro have decided to keep their movie theatres open.