Netflix boss says The Crown will ‘look like a bargain’ as streaming battle begins
Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings says the its drama about the British Royal family, ‘The Crown’, will “look like a bargain” as the arrival of streaming rivals Apple, Disney and NBC will push content costs up.
The series, which will include 60 episodes over six season, cost a reported £100m to produce.
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It is one of the reasons Netflix has seen its subscriber base rise to 152m.
“It’s a whole new world starting in November,” said Hastings at the RTS television industry conference, referring to the launch of similar services by Apple and Disney.
Amazon is also expected to increase its productions for Prime, while NBC will also release a streaming service.
Hastings said an increase in subscription services would mean an increase in competition for the best content and talent.
“Someday ‘The Crown’ will look like a bargain,” he said.
Hastings also added that Netflix would make a “big increase” in its investment in to British television production next year following the success of ‘The Crown’.
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“The possibilities the internet brings for growing entertainment is phenomenal, and over the next several years, with all of the expansion, I think we are going to see a very large increase in how much content is produced here in the UK,” he said.
“This year we spent a little over 400 million pounds in the UK and that’s continuing to grow, following our subscriber base.”