The Office – NBC
By now, you’ve heard the news that The Office will be departing Netflix in January 2021 from Netflix in the United States. More details surrounding the offers between Netflix and NBCUniversal have now been revealed.
According to CNBC reporter, Alex Sherman, we now know several key aspects of the negotiations.
Firstly, we know that Netflix offered an eye-watering $90 million to keep The Office streaming on Netflix through 2021. That’s per year too, so every year, Netflix would have to cough up $90 million to keep the NBC show streaming. That’s slightly less than what Netflix reportedly paid Warner Media for Friends this year which cost $100 million although that figure has been reported to be inflated with the true figure being around $80 million.
Yes
— Alex Sherman (@sherman4949) June 25, 2019
That would mean that The Office is currently the hottest property on Netflix US with them literally paying through the nose to keep it. That’s very impressive given The Office is fast approaching its 10-year anniversary from concluding its final season.
Alex Sherman also touts that The Office is watched nearly double the number of Friends too.
For context here — Friends deal was $80m per year. The Office is watched nearly double the amount of Friends based on third party data. https://t.co/DhsNb4n7Iq
— Alex Sherman (@sherman4949) June 25, 2019
The second revelation is that Netflix also offered to share the streaming rights for The Office. That’s something Netflix doesn’t typically do with them preferring to be the exclusive provider of each show it streams whether that be licensed or an Original.
In a tweet, Alex said: “One of the ideas I’m told around splitting rights was Netflix being the home for “ad-free” watching and NBC being the ad-supported option”. This a jibe Netflix took in its official Twitter statement regarding the removal of the show too saying: “members can binge watch the show to their hearts’ content ad-free on Netflix until January 2021”.
Details on the NBC Universal streaming platform remain scarce for the moment although it’s expected to be ad-supported for cable subscribers or around $10 a month (still ad-supported) for cord-cutters.
Do you think $90 million is worth it for The Office or are those funds better spent elsewhere? Let us know in the comments down below.
