Another avenue may come in the form of a take private offer, though obvious difficulties in the market will be a restraining factor for either option. However, every crisis also yields opportunities. At-home entertainment boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and streaming frontrunner Netflix recorded massive global subscriber increases of almost 16 million in Q1 and almost another 11 million in Q2, more than doubling expected growth prior to lockdown. Some of this increase could be ‘pull-forward’ of interest, which might lead to slightly slower growth in future months but the evidence is clear, consumers re-directed
their spending to online platforms to keep themselves entertained while restricted to their homes. While production of new material will have been halted over the last several months, availability of good content and having a fruitful pipeline of shows ready to go have been more important than ever. The straight-to-release philosophy underpinning Netflix’s programming means that there is no concern with filming additional episodes in the middle of running. But while in a better position than traditional broadcasters, the temporary pause in production will still cause some delay to future releases.
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