Streamer’s co-chief proposes deal to allow the global SVoD’s customers to bypass iPlayer
Netflix is “eager” to strike a deal to host BBC and other PSBs’ content, according to co-chief executive Greg Peters.
Peters argued that allowing viewers to access BBC channels and content through Netflix, effectively bypassing iPlayer, would help it reach a larger audience.
French commercial broadcaster TF1 has already struck a similar arrangement with Netflix, with further details expected to be announced in the summer.
Peters made the comments in an interview with The Telegraph, published today. He said Netflix could help “make sure that content gets to as big an audience as possible” if the BBC agreed a deal.
“Our job is to think about this from not only the BBC’s perspective, but a lot of broadcasters,” he said. “How can we help them actually connect with audiences that they’re not really connecting with? We’re eager to do that.”
He pointed to Netflix’s user-friendly interface, adding that interacting with its audience as streamers as well as linear broadcasters is “a very deep strategic question for [PSBs] to go figure out, among many”.
His comments come weeks after the BBC announced it had signed a deal with YouTube to commission content specifically for the video-sharing platform, with the internal BBC ambition understood to be to launch around 50 public service channels on YouTube in the next 12 months.
But Peters is dubious that YouTube is a service suited to platforming high-quality television.
“When you think about what a BBC production or a Netflix production costs, it’s not really supported by the YouTube model,” he said.
“The most important thing about YouTube is that their model does not sustain the type of content investment that we’re talking about.”
Netflix was crowned Broadcaster of the Year at the recent Broadcast Awards, in large part because of its investment in British stories, and in the interview Peters pointed to Warp Films’ recent smash hit Adolescence and Sister’s spy drama Black Doves as examples of British-made and set shows commissioned by the streamer.
The BBC declined to comment.
No comments yet