Over at Quartz Media, there is an article by Ashley Rodriguez which points out the amount of money Netflix is spending on comedy/stand up shows and how they are paying so much that HBO, who used to have plenty of stand up comedy shows, is now falling back (though they did just sign Jon Stewart):
Netflix is Spending a Fortune on Stand-Up But Nobody Streams These Comedy Specials on HBO
I’ve noted twice before (you can read the most recent thing I wrote about Netflix and their expenditures here) that Netflix, a company that is clearly flush with cash and success, were spending an awful lot of money on new programming and, I worried then, they might be reaching a point where they’re simply spending too much.
In the article linked above, this paragraph is worth noting:
(Chris) Rock’s two specials and Chappelle’s three reportedly cost Netflix $20 million apiece, for a whopping total of $100 million. And Netflix reportedly spent another $100 million on Seinfeld’s pair of specials, combined with his full series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. That’s roughly what HBO spent on the entire sixth season of Game of Thrones.
That expenditure doesn’t even account for the nearly $295 million Netflix supposedly spent to make some four movies, Death Note, Will Smith’s Bright, Brad Pitt’s War Machine, and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman.
I admire the fact that Netflix is trying to create their own entertainment “world”, and clearly at this point they are so flush with cash that they can afford to make the investments.
However, I also wonder just how long this magic ride of theirs can last. Death Note and War Machine, for example, didn’t seem to create much in the way of buzz. While War Machine did receive some critical kudos, Death Note seemed to do the exact opposite and I don’t know if either property made Netflix a profit or broke even.
The amount of monies spent on these comedy specials, too, seems rather crazy. Spending $100 million for Jerry Seinfeld’s two specials and Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee cost the same as the entire sixth season of Game of Thrones?!
Game of Thrones features a large cast and special effects and one can understand it needing funds to be made… though it seems the investment was worth it given the fact that Game of Thrones is one of the most talked about -not to mention successful– shows out there. On the other hand, the Sienfeld material, as good as it may be, involves no special effects, minimal staff to film or have before the cameras, and therefore a product that has to be done very cheaply… yet it merits a payment in the range of a Game of Thrones?!
Look, I like Jerry Seinfeld and the fact that he’s still earning that kind of money is a tribute to his talent. Further, I’ve heard his Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee is quite good.
Having said all that, does the show do Game of Thrones business?!
I may be wrong, but I don’t think so.
I guess the bottom line is this: I worry for Netflix. No, I don’t own stock in them or have family or friends working in the company nor any personal reason to care what happens to them other than as a consumer… but I do feel they are way too free in their expenditures and think that one day they will suddenly find they’ve wasted on hell of a lot of money on stuff that (perhaps) will never give them back their return.
We’ll see, that’s for sure.