CANNES, France— Netflix Inc. NFLX 0.22% Co-Chief Government Ted Sarandos confirmed that the streaming firm is chatting with a number of potential companions to assist it enter the promoting enterprise, telling an trade convention that it could construct its personal advert enterprise sooner or later.
Netflix mentioned in April that it’s exploring an ad-supported model of its platform and in latest weeks has explored a variety of partnerships that might assist it deliver these plans to fruition. Comcast Corp.’s CMCSA -0.64% NBCUniversal and Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG 0.37% Google have emerged as prime contenders to work with Netflix, The Wall Road Journal reported Wednesday.
When requested about partnership talks with advert corporations on Thursday, Mr. Sarandos replied, “We’re speaking to all of them proper now.”
“We would like a reasonably straightforward entry to the market—which, once more, we are going to construct on and iterate in,” he added. “What we do at first won’t be consultant of what the product might be in the end. I need our product to be higher than TV.”
Netflix could be part of with a longtime participant within the promoting trade to launch its advert providing, then construct up its personal advert enterprise internally, Mr. Sarandos mentioned. “If it turns into so necessary that we wish to have management over it, then we’d [build our own ad business].”
Mr. Sarandos mentioned the corporate needed to design an advert expertise that may be “extra built-in and fewer interruptive” than conventional TV promoting.
The promoting trade has been buzzing in latest months concerning the prospect of a possible ad-supported model of Netflix. The corporate mentioned it was exploring such an providing in April after reporting its first quarterly subscriber loss in additional than a decade.
The transfer could be a big change for an organization that has bought itself since its inception as a commercial-free haven for its subscribers.
Netflix’s technique shift on promoting got here as an indication that the tip of a pandemic-fueled progress spurt and aggressive streaming market was weighing on the corporate. A lower-priced ad-supported tier would assist Netflix increase income and subscriptions.
Talking on the Cannes Lions convention, Mr. Sarandos was additionally requested concerning the firm’s dealing with of an issue in response to a 2021 comedy particular on its service.
Mr. Sarandos expressed remorse for the best way that he and the corporate responded to anger over the comedy particular, by which comic Dave Chappelle made jokes and remarks relating to gender that many within the transgender neighborhood, together with some Netflix staffers, discovered offensive.
“We had some of us inside Netflix who have been very upset. They have been hurting,” Mr. Sarandos mentioned. “I believe I ought to have been empathetic with them straight. That’s one of many issues I remorse.”
Mr. Chappelle has mentioned he stands by his feedback and mentioned he could be prepared to fulfill with transgender Netflix staff to listen to their considerations.
Mr. Sarandos mentioned Netflix would proceed to supply content material from a broad number of viewpoints, even when the content material offended some people. He mentioned the identical philosophy motivated the corporate’s protection of its LGBTQ+ content material, regardless of calls from around the globe to take away it.
Mr. Sarandos additionally addressed experiences that Netflix may contemplate shopping for an organization that makes {hardware} used to entry the corporate’s service, given the massive variety of shoppers who use internet-enabled TVs or streaming sticks to look at Netflix’s content material.
“We don’t want it,” Mr. Sarandos mentioned, declining to touch upon experiences that Netflix might be excited about shopping for streaming hub Roku Inc.
Write to Endurance Haggin at patience.haggin@wsj.com
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