Netflix to bring in $15bn in sub fees for 2018, says CEO

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has stated that Netflix is set to earn around $15bn (£10.8bn) in subscription revenue this year by sticking to its strategy of delivering original content.

The streaming giant told Nikkei Asian Review reporters, who also first reported the story, that the company’s guiding principle is turning subscribers “hard-earned money” into quality programming.

Currently Netflix claims to have 117 million members worldwide and plans to spend $8bn on new original content for 2018.

“Every show, we ask ourselves did we spend the customer’s money well,” Hastings was reported to say.

Hastings also said that Disney’s latest acquisition of Fox assets does not prove as a threat to the company unless they “slack off”.

The company head rejected the idea of adding live streams of news and sports to its service, like rival Amazon, saying that what Netflix does best is “providing narrative-driven content such as TV shows and movies.”

Hastings further went on to explain what Netflix considers a good metric for its movies, stating: “We measure [success] directly in viewing and then also how much people watch the whole movie versus drop off.”