Netflix Says It Makes Movie And TV Stars As It Adds 7 Million New Subscribers

Netflix Says It Makes Movie And TV Stars As It Adds 7 Million New Subscribers

The new movie star is being made on yourNetflixscreen. At least, that’s what the streaming service is proudly proclaiming.

Netflix Subscribers Up By 7 Million

Netflix attributes the boost to the success of its summer rom-coms such asTo All The Boys I’ve Loved Before,Set It Up,andThe Kissing Booth, leading the streaming service to dub its string of hits as the “Summer of Love.“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Beforein particular was one of Netflix’s most-viewed original films, with more than 80 million Netflix accounts reportedly tuning in for it and the rest of the “Summer of Love” slate, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.

The New Hollywood Stars

Gone are the days of MGM or Warner Bros. box office stars — Netflix is shaping a new generation of stars with the combined Instagram follower count of a small country. Just look to the sharp social media ascent of the stars of its “Summer of Love.“To All The Boys I’ve Loved BeforestarsNoah CentineoandLana Condorhave found their Instagram followers multiply by the millions, immediately launching theminto heartthrob status. Vanity Fair reports that Condor’s follower count grew from 104,000 followers right before the movie’s premiere to 5.6 million, while Centineo had an even more dramatic jump from about 800,000 followers before the film to 14 million now.

Even Netflix has grown wise to the power that Instagram holds in the young generation of viewers growing up on Netflix. The streaming service released a chart of the social media growth of the young stars ofStranger Things,The Kissing Booth, To All The Boys I’ve Loved BeforeandRidiculousnesstoDeadline— which is somewhat hilarious since the streaming service still refuses to release actual streaming data. “This explosive growth in popularity is a good indicator that our shows and stars are breaking out around the planet,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wrote in his note to investors, adding:

“We’re also thrilled that Netflix has been a launching pad for a new generation of global stars like Millie Bobby Brown, Jacob Elordi, Noah Centineo and Gaten Matarazzo. When our service helps our talent develop huge fan bases … we can attract the best talent in the world.

“You see in the long list of … newly minted stars this quarter, you can see what we mean by putting content into the culture and into the zeitgeist,” Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos added. “If it’s really great, it can get nominated and win Emmys and win Oscars.”

Losing ‘Friends’ in the Streaming Wars

Netflix will have to rely on the strength of their original content and new movie and TV stars with the coming streaming platform wars. The streaming landscape continues to shift drastically, pushing Netflix to grapple with a potential future in which its content library will be halved as studio partners begin pulling content off the platform. WithDisneyandWarnerMediaset to launch their own respective streaming platforms, Netflix is at risk of losing some of its most in-demand licensed titles and potentially alienating families,Deadlinereports. We knewStar Wars,Marvel, and Disney titles are set to leave, there’s the more horrifying prospect of losing frequently rewatched sitcoms likeFriends. Could you handle Netflix withoutFriends? I know I couldn’t, and Netflix is aware of that.

“Content likeFriendsis likely to disappear from Netflix in 2019 as WarnerMedia launches its own SVOD service,” wrote BTIG media analyst Rich Greenfield of BTIG. “As more content creators launch their own SVOD services, how should investors think about the impact of losing high-profile syndicated content?”

But Netflix is confident in the strength of its original content (not to mention its burgeoning stars), and in the potential opportunity partnering with public broadcasters like the BBC, from which collaborations like the upcomingDraculaserieshas sprung. Sarandos said:

“Some of our biggest brands, likeStranger Things, are owned and produced in-house, but we are still licensing a lot of content.Queer Eye, Fastest Car, Nailed It, Sugar Rush.These are all shows that people love in enormous numbers around the world. And we don’t have to go through the gun-to-the-head renegotiations.”

Still, Sarandos is assured that not all partnering studios will pull their titles from Netflix. “We’ve been a pretty dependable buyer,” Sarandos said.