Originals, exclusives form majority of Netflix US catalogue
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Editor
| 01 June 2022
Netflix is seeing the fruits of having outspent every other subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) rival and in March original and exclusive titles in its US catalogue accounted for more than 50% of all available content for the first time says Ampere Analysis.
netflix catalogue originals 1JUne2022
In September 2016, when originals and exclusives accounted for only 5% of its US catalogue, the then CFO David Wells set a target of a 50/50 split between original and licensed titles within the next few years. This transition to majority original titles is a product of Netflix’s market-leading spending. According to Ampere, Netflix’s spend on original content reached $6.2 billion in 2021, and there are now 3,700 Original-branded, that is original and exclusive, movies and TV seasons in the Netflix US library, which has consistently offered around 7000 titles over the last three years.

By way on contrast with rivals, Ampere noted that Netflix’s original content spend was more than double the next highest spender, Disney+, with $2.8 billion and among the major SVOD platforms, Netflix was second only to Apple TV+ in its focus on original-branded content. It was far ahead of fellow streaming incumbents Amazon Prime Video (9%) and Hulu (4%).

At current growth rates, Ampere estimates that 75% of the movies and TV seasons available on Netflix will be either originals or exclusives by the end of 2024.

And the study emphasised that customers were getting bang for their buck with Netflix. Ampere’s proprietary Popularity Score indicated that across Q1 2022, Netflix originals and exclusives accounted, on average, for 12% of the 100 most popular titles available on SVOD in the US, the highest share of any SVOD platform. Notable titles include the final season of crime series Ozark and the second season of period drama Bridgerton, which recently became the most-watched English-language TV series on Netflix.

“Netflix’s increasing content self-sufficiency is necessary for today’s streaming market. The rise of studio-led direct-to-consumer platforms has led to a shrinking pool of licensable content as studios prefer to keep productions in-house,” commented Ampere Analysis analyst Joe Hall. “Original content also allows platforms to offer exclusive titles internationally without additional licensing costs. This is particularly important as Netflix sets its sight on acquiring more international subscribers to compensate for maturity in developed markets.”