Is Netflix Shifting Its Strategy? Wall Street Certainly Hopes Not

‘The rules are different,’ says one analyst of the streamer’s $6 billion-a-year content binge, even as CEO Reed Hastings says he wants to cancel more of its shows

- Paul Bond

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings caused heart palpitations in Hollywood on May 31 when he said he wants to cancel more of his original shows. “Our hit ratio is way too high right now,” Hastings told CNBC. “I’m always pushing the content team; we have to take more risks ... because we should have a higher cancel rate overall.”

The comment was interpreted by some as a sign that Netflix, which has emerged over the past five years as perhaps the most prolific buyer of original content, might be shifting a strategy that has buoyed the entertainment industry. A day later, Netflix canceled the pricey sci-fi drama Sense8, a move that came a week after Baz Luhrmann’s ultraexpensive The Get Down was axed.