Gregory Peters
Analyst · KeyBanc. Netflix, Inc. recently launched party games that are playable on the TV. How do you think gaming could change the time members spend with Netflix, Inc. each day
Games are clearly a form of entertainment consumers care about in terms of the time they spend, which you noted, as well as the money they spend. It is approximately a $140 billion opportunity in consumer spend, excluding China and Russia. That does not even include the ad revenue, which, of course, is linked to the time and engagement. We have mostly talked so far about our work in this space as games because that is an easy shorthand. We see this initiative as more about interactivity broadly and how does interactivity become complementary to linear storytelling? How does it enable us to unlock new entertainment experiences? For example, real-time voting will be our first live interactive feature. We are currently testing it on Dinner Time Live with David Chang. It is going to roll out more broadly, starting with Sarsearch in January. We expect to provide other interactive features to deepen engagement with live events as we go in the future. When it comes to actual games, we have been building a ton of foundations for the last few years. Things like the ability just to develop games, to get those games onto the service, connect games with players, give them a high-quality experience. Going forward, we are building on top of that foundation, but focusing on offering more high-quality games in a few key genres and targeting the right cohort of users. This is a less is more strategy on a few identified verticals. Those verticals include immersive narrative games based on our own IP. You can think about Squid Game Unleashed, or Thonglets from the Black Mirror Universe, or Golf with Happy Gilmore. We have got games for kids. This is Peppa Pig, no ads, no in-app payments. Safe within your subscription. Mainstream established titles, think about what we did with Grand Theft Auto. As well as socially engaging party games, which you noted. We are rolling out this holiday season a slate of party games on TV. It is great for the whole family. When you are in front of that TV, all you need is the TV, and your phone is a controller. It is like Boggle Party, Pictionary game night, Lego Party, Tetris. We have got Party Crashers, which is a social deception game. Part that I like most about this is these games are super easy to access. It is just like our series and films. You scroll to the games tab, you pick whatever you want, click it, and you are in. You do not need a special controller. That is key to this access. In the years ahead, actually, speaking of controllers, we expect creators will really find interesting and novel ways to unlock all of the power that is in this incredibly advanced controller that we all happen to have in our pockets, which, of course, is our phones. We are just starting to scratch the surface today. There is much more we can ultimately do in this space. Yet we already see how this approach not only extends the audience's engagement with the story, but it creates a synergy that reinforces both mediums, the interactive and the non-interactive side. It drives engagement. It drives retention, and therefore, the business. Looking ahead, we are going to ramp our investment in this area judiciously based on demonstrating that we are ramping returns to the business, but we are extremely excited about the progress we have got ahead of us.