Netflix ‘not Growing as Fast as I Want,’ Co-CEO Sarandos says

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said Wednesday that the streaming service is not growing as fast as he would like, pointing to slowing viewer engagement. He made the remarks at Bloomberg's Screentime conference in Los Angeles.

The acknowledgment comes as Netflix's viewership grew just 2 percent over the first half of 2026, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It also arrives the same day a judge approved the $111 billion merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal that could reshape competition in streaming.

"Overall, we're not growing as fast as I want us to, and we're working on making that move faster," Sarandos said, according to Bloomberg. He added, "We are, though, also doing things that create a lot of headwind to that number." Later in the conversation he said, "The business is great and growing fine," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Sarandos pointed to live programming as a bright spot, saying it is especially good at generating signups and helps cut subscriber churn, The Hollywood Reporter reported. He also said advertisers favor live content.

Asked whether he regretted Netflix's brief winning bid for Warner Bros. before David Ellison, backed by his billionaire father and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, offered more for the deal, Sarandos said "Nahhh," according to The Hollywood Reporter. "I think the plan was solid," he said, adding, "We won the deal at some point, so we think we priced it right — at our scale."

On whether the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery combination threatens Netflix's market share, Sarandos said the outcome is unclear. "It looks on paper— so far it's one and one," he said, then added, "So I don't know if one and one is two, or one and one is one and a half, or one and one is three."

Sarandos also addressed Netflix's recent deals with YouTube creators, saying they do not signal a strategy shift. "We're definitely… not in the UGC [user-generated content] business," he told Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw. "We're in the professionally produced content business." He said Netflix will not launch a free, ad-supported tier because it would risk "cannibalizing the core product."

Sarandos also discussed Netflix's expanding theatrical strategy, citing the success of "KPop Demon Hunters." The animated film drew 325.1 million views within its first 90 days on Netflix and stayed in the platform's Global Top 10 for 63 straight weeks, Deadline reported. Its theatrical singalong version grossed an estimated $19 million over two days at No. 1, according to Deadline. Netflix plans wide theatrical releases for "Narnia" next year and "Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory" at the end of this year, and Sarandos said the "KPop Demon Hunters" sequel will get "a very broad theatrical release."