Netflix Content Spending, Set to Hit $18 Billion in 2025, Is ‘Not Anywhere Near a Ceiling,’ CFO Says

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix expects to spend in the neighborhood of $18 billion in cash on content in 2025 — and it sees plenty of runway to expand in the years ahead, according to Netflix CFO Spencer Neumann. “We’re not anywhere near a ceiling” with respect to content spending, said Neumann, speaking Wednesday at the 2025 Morgan Stanley Tech, Media & Telecom Conference.

As a global entertainment company, he said, “I think we are still just getting started.” The $18 billion cash content spending pegged for this year would be up around 11% from $16.2 billion in 2024.

Asked about how Netflix forecasts content spending, Neumann said “it’s a little art and a little science.” It starts with anticipated revenue, which the company has “pretty good predictability about,” he said, and then Netflix looks at content spending in the context of achieving margin targets.

Netflix ended 2024 with 301.6 million paid members globally, accelerating its growth from 2023. That translates into over 700 million people who are watching Netflix content, Neumann said.