Mentioned yesterday by Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos, he stated that television content typically made up between 50 to 60 percent of all content streamed on Netflix at any given time. Sarandos was speaking at the Mipcom conference in Cannes, France with Miramax CEO Mike Lang in a keynote address. Sarandos indicated that when a user watches a movie over Netflix streaming, a recommendation for a television show is made based off that feature film. For instance, all viewers of Zack Synder’s 300 were given a recommendation to watch Starz’s Spartacus. The rising amount of subscribers turning to television programs has also bolstered support for purchasing rights to new serialized programs.
While Netflix made strides earlier in the year by acquiring exclusive rights to stream the popular AMC program Mad Men, the streaming content provider is turning to original programming to keep subscribers happy. One such program is called Lilyhammer starring Sopranos actor Steve Van Zandt, an original series about a New York mobster that’s forced to move to Lillehammer, Norway while in the federal witness protection program. Another program is called Borgia, a look at the Borgia family during the Renaissance and their domination of the Vatican during that time period. In addition, Netflix subscribers are anticipating David Fincher’s House of Cards series starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright.
Besides original programming, Netflix also recently extended and expanded the rights to stream content from TLC, Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel over the next two years. Shows such as “Man vs. Wild”, “River Monsters” and “Say Yes to the Dress” can be viewed through Netflix streaming. Under the new deal, Netflix is also able to modify the search function through the Netflix client and users can simply type in Discovery Communications as the search query to bring up all programs affiliated with the new content deal.
