Movie theatres are never coming back: Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos

Movie theatres are on the road to extinction, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos implied in an interview with Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of news website Semafor.

He highlighted how live events such as Broadway shows, sporting events, and concerts have returned stronger than ever, noting, “Broadway’s breaking records right now; sporting events, concerts, all those things that we couldn’t do during Covid are all back and bigger than ever.”

Sarandos pointed out that the theatrical box office is down 40-50% from pre-Covid levels and 8% lower this year. “...so the trend is not reversing. You’ve gotta look at that and say, ‘What is the consumer trying to tell you?’”


On the topic of content creation, Sarandos saw YouTube as a platform to “cut your teeth on or develop an idea on” before moving to Netflix for better monetisation—a view that Smith felt YouTube would challenge, as it directly shares revenue with creators.

Sarando said that he’s keeping an eye on creators in the “pro-am category” (professional-amateur), who produce engaging content without any upfront funding from YouTube, taking all the risk themselves.