Netflix Spending Spree: ‘Prestige Envy,’ Cheap Hits — and an Ellison War to Come
The streamer may have lost the battle for WBD. But its new bets reveal a strategy that could box in Paramount
I wrote about Dana Walden’s Disney TV re-org, reported on who slayed the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, dug into Jeff Shell’s absence at Paramount and mapped the org chart from hell looming at Paramount-Warners. Email me at lesley.goldberg@theankler.com
“To beat the champ, you gotta knock him out!”
That’s what Fox broadcaster Joe Davis said the moment the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays last October and sealed back-to-back World Series titles. You might say the same about Paramount’s $111 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery — the big, risky M&A move is effectively David Ellison’s attempt to land a body blow against Netflix, the undisputed Streaming Wars champ.
The combined Paramount-WBD will be a formidable opponent for the dominant streamer. Wall Street may take a dim view of this merger, as Claire Atkinson reported, and it’s going to mean heavy layoffs — plus an org chart from hell — but there’s no denying the combined companies will form an IP, production and creative talent powerhouse. (That is, if the deal goes through — Richard Rushfield yesterday served up reasons why it may not.)
It would also create a merged Paramount+-HBO Max service — the first true rival to Netflix at scale.
The company would control multiple film and TV studios, HBO and HBO Max, 27 cable networks and a massive library of IP ranging from DC Comics, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Friends and The West Wing to kids and family fare, sports rights and live events and everything in between.
Meanwhile, Netflix isn’t waiting. A $2.8 billion termination fee is helping fill out Netflix’s 2026 content spend to $20 billion — up from $16.2 billion in 2024 and $18 billion in 2025. And the company has been on a spending spree. In the past weeks alone, Netflix has announced Maya Hawke vehicle The God of the Woods, limited series Enigma Variations with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Canadian drama This Summer Will be Different, Darren Star romcom Uncorked, a KPop Demon Hunters sequel, a feature reboot of 13 Going on 30 and Chris Pine survival pic Yeti. That’s on top of scores of script deals, the opening of a VFX studio in India and a documentary partnership with Warner Music Group.
On one level, agents and sellers insist this is just Netflix being Netflix.
“Pretend Warners wasn’t for sale,” says one agent. “Netflix, HBO, Paramount+ — they’d all be making these moves anyway. I don’t see anything terribly different strategy-wise.”
But others see something more pointed in the timing: Netflix quietly bulking up ahead of its first real heavyweight challenger.
I spoke with a dozen sources to understand what’s really driving Netflix’s latest spending wave — and what it will take for Paramount-WBD to actually land a punch.
In today’s column:
How “prestige envy” is reshaping Netflix’s buying strategy
Cindy Holland’s impossible task: beating the company she helped build
Why Netflix still wins the bidding wars — even when the deals look identical
Two priorities emerging for all streamers and what shows are getting cut out from the mix
Why Netflix can’t afford a creative slump (and why some think it’s in one)
The one area where Paramount-WBD still has an enormous advantage
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