Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call October 18, 2023 6:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Spencer Wang - Vice President of Finance, Investor Relations and Corporate Development

Theodore Sarandos - Co-Chief Executive Officer

Gregory Peters - Co-Chief Executive Officer

Spencer Neumann - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Jessica Reif Ehrlich - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Netflix Q3 2023 Earnings Interview. I'm Spencer Wang, VP of Finance, IR and Corporate Development. Joining me today are Co-CEOs, Ted Sarandos; and Greg Peters; and CFO, Spence Neumann. Our interviewer this quarter is Jessica Reif Ehrlich from Bank of America. As a reminder, we will be making forward-looking statements and actual results may vary.

Jessica, let me turn it over to you now for your first question.

Question-and-Answer Session

Q - Jessica Reif Ehrlich

Thank you. So let's start with you, Ted. Now that one strike is over, the Writers Guild, what are the implications for your business?

Theodore Sarandos

Thanks, Jessica. Let me first say, we want nothing more than to resolve this and get everyone back to work. That's true for Netflix. That's true for every member of the [NPTP]. It's why our member CEOs have prioritized these negotiations above everything else we are doing. We spent hours and hours with SAG-AFTRA over the last few weeks, and we were actually very optimistic that we are making progress. But then at the very end of our last session together, the Guild presented this new demand that kind of on top of everything for a per subscriber levy unrelated to viewing or success, and this really broke our momentum, unfortunately. But you should know, we are incredibly and totally committed to ending this strike. The industry, our communities and the economy are all hurting. So we need to get a deal done that respects all sides as soon as we possibly can.

In terms of the impact, these are the times that I'm glad we have such a rich and deep and broad programming selection. Programming costs themselves rise nearly every year, primarily driven by competition. Competition for talent, competition for shows and films. And you can see we've managed successfully through that year on year on year. And the same is true for – during COVID when we were able to manage the slate through a prolonged and pretty unpredictable production interruptions. But I really think we are not really that focused right there on it and how this impacts much, except for our biggest opportunity, which is to continue improving the quality of the slate. We focused on that day-in, day-out, year-in, year-out. And I'm incredibly pleased with Bela and the team and the progress that they are making.