Sep 27, 2023 - Economy

Why Netflix's stock surged through the writers strike

Data: Yahoo! Finance; Chart: Axios Visuals
Data: Yahoo! Finance; Chart: Axios Visuals

Maybe it's not a surprise that the company blamed for the Hollywood writer's strike was the same one whose stock price emerged higher coming out of it.

Context: Netflix in recent years has upended traditional norms of television and film production, their distribution and worker pay models.

  • But owing to the company's structural and strategic advantages, and the fact that it had already reached global scale in streaming — it was well positioned when the strike began compared to its rivals.

Zoom in: The streamer has a huge library of international content, and because many of its shows and films are produced abroad, not all workers were impacted by the strike, analysts have noted.

  • Without needing theaters and broadcast television to distribute its content, Netflix was also less exposed to broader consumer risks.

What to watch: More than 11,500 Hollywood writers are now eligible to return to work — which should jump-start production of most live talk shows in the coming days and weeks, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.

  • How quickly investors jump back into media stocks remains to be seen.

Go deeper: Hollywood writers' contract deal includes historic AI rules

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