• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 8 hours ago

The concerns around Netflix keep coming. Viewership growth is slow -- just 2% in the first half of 2026. Why?

Too much lame content? Competition? All of that is surely working. Can AI improve things for Netflix?

One thing is certain -- user-generated content will not be the key, according to Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who spoke at a recent Bloomberg event.

Perhaps those other moves aren’t working so well for Netflix -- especially live programming, which amounts to around 5% of its $20 billion in annual content spend.

Live programming makes sense. It is a major anchor that can pull viewers away from those growing Netflix competitors. Right now it is focused on live sports and other quasi-related unique competitions.

Surely, those special NFL holiday games are doing their job -- around 25 million or so. But apparently that is not enough of a draw overall -- pulling in just 1% of overall viewership.

The good news is that subscription signups on the particular day do really well, Sarandos says.

But those who sign up may not hang around or might abandon those subscriptions the next month. Would they have been major viewers of Netflix’s non-sports entertainment content?

Does Netflix need more news-related content -- a major source of live content where viewers can be pulled in?

That doesn’t seem to be a Netflix thing. It is really still entertainment focused.

Perhaps Netflix’s real competition won’t be coming from the merger potential of Paramount and Warner Bros. What about YouTube? Maybe. But not core YouTube.

“We’re definitely… not in the UGC [user-generated content] business,” Sarandos said at the event.

Nope, it is all about professional produced entertainment. YouTube --largely still isn’t about that.

Sarandos believes that when it comes to FAST-generated (free ad-supported streaming television) content -- largely library content from legacy Hollywood studios -- this would result in “cannibalizing” its core entertainment content.

So is the plan working? One analyst, Michael Morris of Guggenheim Securities, still has a "buy" rating for the company.

Why? Because where others may take a break -- or may be treading more carefully -- Netflix plan is to keep spending on content to find something that works.

Hopefully, this will maintain the idea that Netflix is the modern entertainment ecosystem's “must see TV.”