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Theodore Sarandos

Co-CEO, President & Director, Netflix

Search every verified Theodore Sarandos interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Theodore Sarandos, Co-CEO of Netflix, has recently discussed the company's strategy and growth across multiple public appearances. On the Netflix Q3 FY26 earnings call, he stated that the company's strategy remains focused on combining entertainment with discovery, global distribution, and monetization, emphasizing that Netflix originals are the anchor of this approach. He also noted that the company is open to licensing second-run titles and forming creative partnerships, such as its integration with TF1 in France, which he said has shown early positive performance. In a Senate hearing, Sarandos responded to Senator Ted Cruz's questioning about political bias, saying that Netflix would fail if it promoted a political point of view or propaganda, and that its audience includes both conservative and liberal viewers who seek entertainment. At Bloomberg Screentime 2026, Sarandos addressed concerns about Netflix's growth, acknowledging that engagement grew by 2% in the last announcement, which he said is not as fast as he would like. He explained that the company is working to accelerate growth and that live programming, which accounts for about 5% of the content budget, generates about 1% of viewing but serves a different purpose. He also discussed the shift away from focusing solely on subscriber growth, citing the company's multiple membership types and revenue streams. Additionally, Sarandos commented on the importance of local productions, noting that shows like "Squid Game" became global hits because of their authentic local appeal, and he defended Netflix's programming by saying that not everything the company makes is intended for everyone, as tastes are diverse.

Recent appearances

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“Well, sir, if we did that we would fail. We would fail if we promoted a political point of view or propaganda. We provide entertainment to consumers. Our consumers see our work largely as they see America. About 40% are conservative, about 40% are liberal, and about 20% don't identify. And when they turn on the television, they turn it on for entertainment. And if we fail to entertain them by trying to promote propag”

“Well, if I can talk about engagement for a second, just itself, the whole act of it, we we kind of set up this debate ourselves, not on purpose. Uh but at one point we stopped talking about subscriber growth and we talked we we stopped talking about subscriber growth because when you look at our business model, it used to be a one for one. We were a one skew company. we had one product. So if you added a a new member”

“This is my this is my point about the the growth in general. Yes, overall we're not growing as fast as I want us to and we're working on on making that move faster. We are though also doing things that create a lot of headwind to that number. Meaning when we do live programming on Netflix, which is a relatively new thing, um we spend about 5% of our content budget on live events. They generate about 1% of our watchin”

“No, I think it was, um, the plan was solid. Um, I think we we and we won the deal at some point so that we priced it. Right. Um, at our scale, that was the top price point where I thought we could return value to our shareholders with that asset. Any more than that, I thought we'd be taking into negative territory, even with our scale. So, uh, when I look at that and I think, well, you and I think that what you're ju”

“We are growing engagement. So we're growing on 200,000,000,000 hours of watching. We grew 2%, you know, in our last announcement. About 2% is not what people are hoping for out of you right there used to double digit growth in at least and certainly in revenue and to some extent even in viewership they had expected. This is this is my point about the growth in general. Yes, overall, we're not growing as fast as I wan”

“We are first and foremost, we are growing engagement. So we're growing on 200,000,000,000 hours of watching. We grew 2% in our last announcement. But 2% is not what people are hoping for out of you right there used to double digit growth in at least and certainly in revenue and to some extent even in viewership they had expected. This is my point about the growth in general. Overall, we're not growing as fast as I wa”

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