After losing its bid for Warner Bros Discovery's rich trove of characters and stories, Netflix is forging ahead with the challenging work of building culture-defining franchises on its own.
Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said Netflix would keep investing in original ideas, and partner with established studios like MGM and Warner Bros, to try to produce films and series that live on for years, in the vein of Stranger Things, Wednesday, and Bridgerton.
"To me, that's just continually the goal," Bajaria said in an interview.
Yet the failed attempt to buy Warner Bros' storied film studio and HBO highlighted a vulnerability for the relative Hollywood upstart, whose catalogue of original films and series spans around a dozen years, compared with more than a century's worth of stories and characters for Warner Bros, Walt Disney, and Universal Pictures.
Netflix was willing to make its biggest bet ever with $72 billion to shore up its library and augment its intellectual property with Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, because creating franchises has proven challenging.
Interviews with 16 current and former Netflix executives, industry leaders, and agents illustrate a picture of the streaming giant whose strategy of making something for everyone, and serving many audiences all at once, is different from crafting a Taylor Sheridan-like universe of Yellowstone spin-offs that brings a built-in audience.
Even so, Netflix's own prolific showrunner, Shonda Rhimes, has successfully adapted Julia Quinn's Bridgerton novels into a series that is entering its fifth season, a spinoff, and a touring event set in Regency-era London, dubbed The Queen's Ball.
Watch: The teaser for season five of Bridgerton
Franchises can be valuable for entertainment companies, because they are lower-risk investments that can bring in ancillary revenue through merchandise sales and in-person experiences.
Recognisable characters and stories also stand out in a fragmented media landscape, grabbing a viewer's attention in a time of myriad distractions.
Netflix announced its first major acquisition, the comic book publisher Millarworld, a day before Disney told investors in August 2017 that it would pull its films from the streaming service to create a rival, later dubbed Disney+.
Stranger Things has been an unqualified success, producing a spin-off series, a stage play, and merchandise.
Netflix points to other examples, such as the action-adventure film Extraction, starring Chris Hemsworth, that led to a sequel and a third instalment in production, as well as a series starring acclaimed French actor Omar Sy.
Its long-running dating show Love Is Blind has been remade for multiple global audiences, including versions centred in Brazil, France, and Japan.
There have been pricey flops along the way to building its own franchises, like the reported $700-million deal to acquire rights to Roald Dahl's catalogue, which includes such beloved children's stories as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
The investment has yet to produce a major hit in five years - although Netflix will try again this year.
It plans a Willy Wonka-inspired reality show called Golden Ticket in which competitors try to survive games and temptations on a set with a chocolate river.
Producing consistent hits that spawn new series helps to attract and retain subscribers and increase engagement, which grew by only 2% in the second half of 2025, according to media consultant Owl & Co.
Top-line growth has been slowing, with revenue expected to grow 13% this year, according to data from financial markets analyst LSEG, compared to 16% in 2025, and its advertising sales represent only 3% of the total.
YouTube's ascendancy poses a competitive threat.
YouTube and Disney, with its vault of iconic characters, have consistently beaten Netflix in share of television viewing since October 2024, according to Nielsen's media distributor gauge, which measures broadcast and cable television viewing and streaming.
Complicating matters, Paramount Skydance is acquiring Warner Bros, which could reduce the number of suppliers of original shows.
Armed with a $2.8-billion windfall from the failed Warner Bros deal, Netflix Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters will continue to go it alone.
Netflix's upcoming releases include time-tested characters and stories, including a live-action Scooby-Doo series and a Narnia film based on the CS Lewis books and directed by Greta Gerwig.
The Electric State offers one example of an expensive failure that illustrates the inherent risks in attempting to launch a sprawling Marvel-like cinematic universe.
Netflix snagged Joe and Anthony Russo, the brothers behind the smashing success of Walt Disney's Avengers films and Netflix's own Extraction, to adapt the critically acclaimed science-fiction novel, and it cast Stranger Things' Millie Bobby Brown alongside Hollywood A-lister Chris Pratt.
Critics savaged the $320-million film when it was released last year.
Plans to more fully exploit the film - including a possible spin-off series and sequels - never materialised, according to two sources directly involved with the project who requested anonymity to protect their industry relationships.
"A lot of people have big movies that also are IP that don't work," said Netflix's Bajaria.
"We're in the film and TV business, so a lot of things work, a lot of things don't work."
Other gambles - such as Netflix's decision to greenlight Squid Game, a dystopian thriller from creator Hwang Dong-hyuk that others had passed on - paid off handsomely, creating a global juggernaut.
With the sheer volume of content, Netflix also has its share of surprises, like Sony Pictures Animation's Oscar-winning animated film KPop Demon Hunters, which last year became the most-watched film ever on the service.
When lightning strikes, Netflix can rely on its unparalleled global distribution and sophisticated algorithm to stoke enthusiasm for a film or series that viewers have begun to binge, helping to create cultural phenomena.
Netflix is treating KPop Demon Hunters as its next major franchise, with licensed toys and other merchandise from Mattel and Hasbro, themed adult meals from McDonald's, a possible concert tour, and a planned animated sequel.
But the success caught Netflix off guard, according to two sources.
In fact, the company did not have licensed toys available to capitalise on the phenomenon during the Christmas shopping season.
Netflix has said in interviews that it approached toymakers and retailers a year or more ahead of the film's release, but they were unwilling to take a risk on an untested property.
At an 18 March presentation in Los Angeles, Netflix showcased its 2026 line-up, which includes a fifth instalment of Bridgerton, a second season of One Piece, an adaptation of the long-running manga series, a live-action TV series based on the Assassin's Creed video game franchise, and a reboot of Little House on the Prairie.
"We're off to a strong start and feeling confident about the quality and consistency of our slate this year," said Jinny Howe, Vice President of Original Series at Netflix.
Source: Reuters
