In this age of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the way folks across the world consume entertainment has changed quite a bit. Movie theaters are shut down. Concerts, festivals, and every other major pop culture event has been canceled or postponed. And with many of us being told to “stay at home” by the government, you’re really left with the entertainment options at your house, including, obviously, Netflix. And according to one executive at Netflix, the COVID-19 pandemic has definitely led to an uptick in viewership.
Netflix Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos, recently appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources (via Deadline), where he talked about how the streaming service is handling the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as how the production shutdown that has affected all of Hollywood would come into play down the line.
“You can imagine, all viewing is up,” said Sarandos. “It’s up on Netflix, on CNN on television in general. The system has been very robust and can help out a lot of people. People certainly are watching a lot more Netflix. As Governor [Andrew] Cuomo said so beautifully the best thing you can do is stay at home we are trying hard to help.”
He added, “What’s happening now is we work pretty far ahead with delivering all the episodes of our shows at once so no disruption over the next few months, maybe later in the year as physical production is not operational.”
For now, it seems, your Netflix (though slowed down) might not be affected by the pandemic. Of course, the delays in production might mean “Stranger Things 4” will likely not be released when we first anticipated, but that’s a small price to pay for the general public’s health. So, as theaters face the possibility of extinction, Netflix is doing just fine.