[Excerpted from Letter to Shareholders]
Content
As seen in the weekly growth chart above, in early Q1, with the benefit of Bridgerton, Lupin and Cobra
Kai, we were following a growth trajectory similar to recent years. As we've noted previously, the
production delays from Covid-19 in 2020 will lead to a 2021 slate that is more heavily second half
weighted with a large number of returning franchises. And while the roll out of vaccines is very uneven
across the world, we are back up and producing safely in every major market, with the exception of
Brazil and India. Assuming this continues, we'll spend over $17 billion in cash on content this year and
we'll continue to deliver an amazing range of titles for our members with more originals this year than
last.
There are several facets to our content strategy. First and foremost, we want to deliver a wide variety of
best-in-class stories that our members love and watch in big numbers. Examples of this breadth in Q1
include season one of Firefly Lane (49m chose to watch this title in its first 28 days), season 3 of Cobra
Kai (45m), Fate: The Winx Saga (57m), and Ginny & Georgia (52m). Our top movies in Q1 include I Care A
Lot (56m), YES DAY (62m), Outside the Wire (66m) and the last installment of To All the Boys I've Loved
Before trilogy (51m). We program across many genres because tastes are very diverse. Even for one
person, what they desire will vary widely depending on their mood or who they are watching with.
Another goal is to create great, locally authentic stories in countries all around the world. It's why our
priority for local language titles is to have a big impact in the home territory so we don't sacrifice local
impact for "travelability." But we're increasingly seeing that these local titles find significant audiences
around the world, which supports our thesis that great stories are universal: they can come from
anywhere and be loved everywhere. Notable standouts this quarter include Below Zero from Spain (47m
chose to watch in its first four weeks), Space Sweepers from Korea (26m), Squared Love from Poland
(31m) and Who Killed Sara? from Mexico (an estimated 55m), which is also our most popular
non-English title ever in the US in its first 28 days (with season 2 launching on May 19).
We want our titles to be talked about by audiences across the globe. Because of our broad distribution
and highly engaged members, our titles not only generate high levels of viewing but also can pierce the
cultural zeitgeist and transcend the film and TV industry. There were two recent standout examples of
this: Lupin, our French language series about a daring gentleman burglar played by Omar Sy, was not
only our most popular new title this quarter on Netflix (76m member households chose to watch in the
first 28 days), but it also propelled book sales of the novel in France; Lupin: Part 2 will debut later in
Q2'21. Similarly, driven by the late December launch of season one of Bridgerton, Julia Quinn's books hit
The New York Times bestseller list for the first time in 18 years.
Netflix led all studios for recent award nominations including the Oscars, Golden Globes, SAG Awards,
BAFTA and the NAACP Image Awards, among others. Heading into the Academy Awards this weekend,
we have 36 nominations across 17 films including two nominees in each of the Best Picture (Mank, The
Trial of the Chicago 7), Best Documentary Feature (Crip Camp, My Octopus Teacher), and Best Animated
Feature (Over the Moon, A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon) categories. Mank led all films with 10
nominations.
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