In just her first year as the Chief Content Officer of global streaming giant Netflix, Bela Bajaria has already weathered two big storms, the double strike by Hollywood writers and actors, both of whom had combined to bring new content production to a grinding halt for months.
In a first in 63 years, both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) went on strike to demand redressals on a range of issues, such as better pay and protection from the threat of Artificial Intelligence in creative work, among others. While the WGA strike ended in September this year after five months of protest, negotiations with SAG-AFTRA were closed in November, with both winning significant concessions from the production houses.
But Bajaria, as Chief Content Officer, has ensured that Netflix remains ahead of its competitors by being the most prolific creator of original programming globally. She says, “Our partnership with world-class talent is the single biggest reason we’re able to bring fresh, original storytelling to our members.” Thanks to a strong pipeline, the streaming platform has still managed to produce hit original English shows, such as The Night Agent, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Wednesday, and Ginny & Georgia. Apart from shows, original movie The Mother starring Jennifer Lopez made it to Netflix’s all-time Top 10 list, while Daniel Craig-starrer Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery also garnered praise.
In 2024, she has a bigger annual content budget of $17 billion to play with. Aided by a global crackdown on password sharing, the platform has added 8.8 million new subscribers between July and September, 2023, on top of the 5.9 million subscribers it amassed in the three months before that. These numbers are an indication of the influence her decisions carry on the binge-watching experience of Netflix’s 247.2 million subscribers across 190 countries, making the former beauty queen one of the most powerful executives in the global entertainment industry.
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