Netflix is again spending millions marketing select movies (The Irishman, Marriage Story, etc.) for industry acclaim, including the upcoming Academy Awards on Feb. 9.
While Irishman has generated much of the media attention and nominations, Marriage Story has taken home the awards hardware, notably for supporting actress Laura Dern.
Speaking on a pre-recorded fiscal interview Jan. 21, chief content officer Ted Sarandos wouldn’t disclose how much the company is spending on awards marketing, but suffice to say the dollar amount has grown in recent years.
Netflix generated 34 Golden Globes Awards nominations, including 17 for movies. Netflix earned 24 nominations for the 92nd Oscars — topping all other studios and media companies. Martin Scorsese’s Irishman generated 10 noms, Marriage Story, 6, The Two Popes, 3, and Klaus is up for best animated feature film.
Netflix spent $2 billion marketing movies and TV shows in 2018, which included industry awards. The service spent $15 billion on original content in 2019.
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“It’s how we’re choosing to bring the incremental spending to the table in terms of the bigger breadth and scale of films,” Sarandos said, adding that the marketing increase hasn’t been at the expense of original TV series, including adding 130 local language series worldwide.
“So to me, I look at [marketing spend] as the growth — the benefit to the business is the growth [in viewership],” he said.