The upcoming fourth season of Netflix hit Stranger Things apparently sent the company piggy bank straight to the Upside Down.
The Wall Street Journal says the series' latest installment cost a whopping $30 million per episode, according to people close to the show.
News of Stranger Things' price tag arrives as Netflix battles a slew of newfound woes, including negative subscriber growth for the first time in over a decade and laggard revenues. Stock prices subsequently plummeted 35 percent in their second-worst one-day decline ever, "erasing $54 billion in market value," the Journal writes.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Well, it's a b---h," Netflix Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Reed Hastings reportedly said of the news, as he addressed employees on Wednesday afternoon.
For years, Netflix has made a name for itself by "prioritizing growth over cost efficiency." Now, the company is looking to rein itself in. Shows' budgets should start matching the size of their audience, Bela Bajaria, head of global TV and Netflix, said recently, per the Journal. The streamer is also looking to lower costs when licensing content from outside studios and production companies.
In terms of boosting revenue, the company already announced in January it would be raising prices in the U.S. and Canada. It's also exploring the addition of a lower-priced ad-supported subscription tier — something it has long opposed doing. And meanwhile, the company's hoping a crackdown on password sharing will further supplement subscriber numbers.
The streamer should be careful with that last bit, however, the Journal posits — though growth is paramount, alienating viewers by limiting password sharing "could be costly too."
Stranger Things Season 4, Part 1 will premiere on Netflix on May 27.
-
Should the right to trial by jury be untouchable?Today’s Big Question With a crown court backlog of around 80,000 cases, David Lammy says ‘status quo cannot go on’
-
Australia’s teens brace for social media banIn The Spotlight Under-16s will be banned from having accounts on major platforms
-
Labour’s dilemma on workers’ rightsThe Explainer TUC says Employment Rights Bill is ‘essential to better quality, more secure jobs’ but critics warn of impact on economic growth
-
The 8 best sci-fi series of all timethe week recommends Imagining — and fearing — the future continues to give us compelling and thoughtful television
-
The 8 best action movies of the 21st centurythe week recommends Thrills come in many forms, from assassins and spies to regular people fighting for justice
-
The 5 best narco movies of all timethe week recommends Cartels from hell and the greasy underside of the international drug trade
-
The Beast in Me: a ‘gleefully horrible story’The Week Recommends Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys star in a ‘gleefully horrible story’
-
The 8 greatest heist movies of all timethe week recommends True stories, social commentary and pure escapism highlight these great robbery movies
-
Gen Z in Los Angeles, the end of ‘Stranger Things’ and a new mystery from the creator of ‘Breaking Bad’ in November TVthe week recommends This month's new television releases include ‘I Love L.A.,’ ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Pluribus’
-
The 5 best political thriller series of the 21st centuryThe Week Recommends Viewers can binge on most anything, including espionage and the formation of parliamentary coalitions
-
The 5 best TV shows about the mobThe Week Recommends From the show that launched TV’s golden age to a Batman spin-off, viewers can’t get enough of these magnificent mobsters
