Shonda Rhimes attends the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 4, 2018 in Beverly Hills, CA.
Presley Ann | Patrick McMullan | beautiful pictures
Shonda Rhimes, the talented producer behind “Bridgerton” and “Inventing Anna,” was among the hosts, creators, and writers who expressed displeasure with the show. NetflixDecided to include mid-roll ads in their content, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trevor Macy and Mike Flanagan of Rhimes and Intrepid Pictures are among the creators who told Netflix executives they believe the ad disrupts their storytelling, who requested anonymity because of the discussions. Comments are private. Netflix has told creators it won’t share any advertising revenue with them, the people said.
Netflix isn’t the first streamer to offer an ad-supported tier. But it used its previous aversion to advertising as a marketing tool to help trade with creators. Rhimes signed a multi-year deal with Netflix in 2021 to exclusively produce content for the streaming service. When she signed the deal, Netflix there is a company policy of not including advertising in his program, a longtime tenet of co-founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings. Both Rhimes and Netflix declined to comment.
Netflix releases lower price advertising support service in the US and other countries this week. Netflix has made the decision to offer ad support as its revenue and subscriber growth continues to coincide with the end of the global coronavirus pandemic. Netflix there are about 223 million global subscribers.
According to people familiar with the matter, Netflix executives have told creators they’ve considered placing mid-roll ads at intervals that fit the plot of each episode. They also told the creators they didn’t expect that more people who sign up for the basic ad tier than those who sign up would not pay for ads, the people said.
“We’re basically using our content tagging teams to find those natural breakpoints so we can deliver ads at the point of least obtrusiveness,” said Netflix CEO , Greg Peters said in October.
However, some creators are still not satisfied with the explanations. Intrepid Pictures makes horror movies and series for Netflix. They are especially unsuitable for ad inserts as they kill the tension during construction. A 50-minute episode of Intrepid’s “The Haunting of Hill House” consists of five long, single shots.
The sixth episode of that series (“Two Storms”), is now interrupted by three one-minute commercials, featuring three ads, each, at $6.99. One of the main reasons Intrepid signed an exclusive master deal with Netflix in 2019 is streamers’ way of avoiding advertising altogether, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. An Intrepid spokesperson declined to comment.
No revenue sharing
Not all creators are upset with Netflix. Ryan Murphy, who signed $300 million with Netflix in 2018, according to a person familiar with his work, arranges his episodes into three acts, resulting in easy ad placement. Scott Frank, co-creator of “The Queen’s Gambit,” has no complaints either, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
The Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America declined to comment for this story.
Splitting revenue from ads, especially ones that disrupt the narrative flow, could be a way to appease annoyed creators who feel Netflix has changed the rules mid-game. But Netflix won’t do that, according to people familiar with the matter. Netflix owns the original show and can insert ads where and when they want, giving creators less leverage than complaining.
However, other media and entertainment companies have avoided the problem of interrupted advertising or agreed to a revenue share in some cases. Discovery of Warner Bros.HBO’s HBO Max has decided not to include mid-roll ads in its HBO programming to address the issue of disruption to the prestigious show. According to a person familiar with the matter, when HBO sold programming to linear cable networks, such as when “The Sopranos” aired on A&E, creators were able to participate in revenue sharing. . An HBO spokesperson declined to comment.
Some creators who have created content specifically for Disney+ are also entitled to participate in an ad revenue share, depending on the language of the contract, according to a person familiar with the matter. Disneypolicy of. But unlike Netflix, Disney owns linear cable networks that can eventually air Disney+ programming with ads. A Disney spokesperson declined to comment.
–CNBC’s Sarah Whitten contributed to this article.
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