Netflix used to tell investors it was excited about video games and podcasts. Now it's gone silent.
For years, Netflix has been telling investors how excited it is about its move into video games.
More recently, it has also started talking up its move into podcasts.
But when the company released its third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, the streamer had nothing to say about either foray.
What does that mean? Netflix won’t say. But I’m pretty comfortable coming up with my own conclusion: Netflix doesn’t think games or podcasts are going to do much for its business, at least in the near future.
That also tracks with new reporting from The Wall Street Journal, which says that Netflix has recently “stopped pushing games and podcasts, focusing more on its core movie and TV offerings.”
That’s logical, given the most pressing problem the company has: figuring out how to make movies and TV shows that attract new subscribers, and that get its existing subscribers to spend more time on the service.
But it’s also a real turnaround, at least in its messaging.
Netflix has consistently talked up games since it launched that business in 2021. In 2022, cofounder Reed Hastings predicted that Netflix would eventually “be a big leader in games.” And the company has frequently pointed out its ambitions in its quarterly updates to investors.
Last quarter, for instance, the company highlighted a new World Cup game, and an app for kids games, and said it had “increasing confidence that we are building a foundation with exciting future growth potential.”
It has also spent the last two quarters talking up its move into podcasts. In April, it said podcasts were a “potential incremental engagement opportunity.” Three months later, it told investors that podcasts were good because they gave viewers more reasons to watch the service during the day (as opposed to the evening, where half of its viewing happens) and on mobile phones.
But on Tuesday, it had nothing to say about either category, other than a single legalese mention about forward-looking statements. But it did make a reference to other people’s video games: It said a 27-minute trailer for Take-Two’s highly anticipated “Grand Theft Auto VI,” which it showed exclusively for a six-hour window, had been a hit.
Both games and podcasts make a certain kind of sense for Netflix, in theory: The company has often talked about the fact that gaming is a big competitor for its viewers’ time. So why not try to harvest some of that attention for itself? And video podcasts are really just another term for “talk shows on a budget” — so why not offer those up to viewers as well?
The flip side: It’s been hard to understand how Netflix would be able to create games that are better or more popular than everyone else in the game business. And it’s an open question whether viewers who turn to Netflix in search of distracting entertainment would be interested in low-fi chats.
Maybe both categories eventually turn into something meaningful for Netflix one day. But the company seems to be saying that won’t happen anytime soon.