For Netflix, Gen AI Isn't What You Think - A 'Hype Cycle' To Come?

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, October 24, 2024

Can generative AI help make better TV and movies for streaming and linear TV? Absolutely. 

But don't look for AI to help companies like Netflix choose better TV shows -- or replace creators. The latter is an obvious concern for TV and movie producers everywhere now that Gen AI has moved into the mainstream of many businesses.

At a recent industry event, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said: “I look at Gen AI as a tool for creators to create content, not for Netflix to create instead of creators.” 

For Sarandos, the jury is still out. He is not exactly an enthusiastic endorser -- yet. “If it doesn't [work] I think it's going to be part of somewhere in the hype cycle of what it is right now,” he says.

Well, major hype can be found everywhere in entertainment. So it has company. 

Look further to a more natural area of creativity, says Sarandos -- video games, which Netflix continues to play around with. “In some ways, it’s going to be a training ground for storytellers and creators, which is great. In other ways, it’s a way that people kill time,” he said.

In some ways Netflix still seems to be a conservative operation. While it probably had the wherewithal to bid and compete for major season-long TV content -- like the NFL -- it has decided not to go for the pricey, potentially much less profitable content that would have extended its reach

Instead, it is testing some key end-of-the-regular-season games: Two special Christmas Day games.

Sports may not necessarily be an all-or-nothing deal for a legacy TV network or digital-first video distributors or platforms.

For Netflix, it seems to pursue some uniqueness -- whether it's a new TV series, movies, an unscripted or live competition show or something else.

Sarandos realizes you can't follow all media and entertainment behaviors by modern consumers: “You can be careful not to get too distracted by chasing everything that people are doing," he says.