Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos heaped praise on incoming chief content officer Peter Rice as he talked up the UK executive’s credentials days before he officially starts in the role.
Speaking on Tuesday’s Q3 earnings call, Sarandos said while he did not anticipate any fundamental strategy shifts to the content strategy after a fraught week for the streamer that culminated in last week’s firing of Bela Bajaria and the appointment of Rice, there was a need to for “better execution in the US”.
“There’s a lot to be excited about, but I know we can do better,” Sarandos told analysts. “I’m incredibly thrilled about Peter Rice joining as our new chief content officer. I’ve known Peter for about 15 years, and the outpouring of excitement of him coming to Netflix from across the industry and from the creative community has been nothing short of overwhelming.”
The co-CEO said Rice was “one of the really rare people in the industry who’s led TV networks, movie studios, streaming services”, hailing the former Fox and Disney executive’s creative and business acumen. “But most importantly, Peter Rice understands talent relations, and in a competitive market where creative talent have choices of where they want to work, we want Netflix to always be the place that they love to do the best work of their life, Peter is the exact right person to lead those efforts in the US and around the world,” he said. Rice officially starts on October 26.
David Fincher, whose The Further Mis-Adventures Of Cliff Booth opens exclusively in Imax on November 25, is one of several high-profile talents who are not renewing their deals at the streamer alongside Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers, Noah Baumbach, and Shawn Levy.
Netflix has been rocked by slower engagement growth in the first half of 2026 and Sarandos and co-CEO Greg Peters acknowledged that they need to do better.
Tribute to Bela Bajaria
Sarandos paid tribute to outgoing chief content officer Bela Bajaria, saying: “Bela has an incredible decade-long run here. She led the teams through expansions of new types of content. She also did the hard work of building this incredible international team who’s been making local-for-local content around the world, which has become a great competitive differentiator for us over the last decade.”
However the co-CEO clearly sees the need to up the game in the US and cited India’s strong third quarter, as well as strong performances in South Korea and Japan, Europe and the Middle East and in particular the Nordic region, a mature market that he said was “killing it”.
Asked about theatrical strategy, he reiterated that Netflix was a streaming-first business, adding that his team looked at every film on its merits when considering theatrical releases in a way that satisfies film-loving members without harming “the view value to Netflix”.
“Our theatrical strategy has evolved to include a traditional 45-day window for a handful of films,” Sarandos said, noting that the streamer was on track to release around 30 films theatrically this year, similar to 2025. “We’re also now reporting box office, so that’s new, and it looks like we picked a good title to start with with La Bola Negra. We’re one week into reporting box office and we’re happy with it, so let’s check in again in about six months.”
Sarandos commented on the appeal of licencing deals like the current arrangement with Disney that has seen all five Ice Age films break into the streamer’s weekly top 10 chart. Such deals, like the new pact with Brazil’s Globo that includes Oscar-winner I’m Still Here, were mutually beneficial to Netflix and its partners.
Peters said he was “very pleased with the early performance” of the partnership with TF1 – the streamer’s first with a traditional broadcaster. “We certainly believe we can replicate similar results with other partners.” Asked about add-on partnerships with other subscription services, Peters said they were another way to expand the entertainment offering,” adding: “There’s nothing to announce today.”
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