Netflix is bringing in Peter Rice, a former Disney executive, to take over as its chief creative officer as the company seeks to revive its growth. Rice, who previously led general entertainment at Disney and served as president of 21st Century Fox, will start his new role later this month. His responsibilities will include overseeing scripted and unscripted series, films, and live events across all regions. He replaces Bela Bajaria, who had been a key figure in Netflix’s content strategy for a decade.
Bajaria was known for expanding Netflix’s unscripted content and securing deals like the one with TKO Group Holdings to stream WWE’s Raw. She famously described the ideal Netflix program as a “gourmet cheeseburger”, a blend of quality and broad appeal. The executive change comes alongside Netflix’s recent layoffs of about 1,000 employees, or 6% of its workforce, signaling efforts to reinvent itself amid slowing subscriber growth and a declining stock price.
Netflix has over 325 million subscribers globally but faces challenges as its audience growth slows and its stock has dropped by 23% this year. The company has shifted from producing prestige TV shows to offering a wider range of entertainment, competing with sports channels and platforms like YouTube. Rice’s extensive experience in Hollywood and his track record of managing successful TV lineups at Fox and Disney make him a strategic choice for Netflix’s leadership.
Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos praised Rice’s expertise, calling him “one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry.” Sarandos acknowledged that the company’s growth is not as fast as desired, despite expanding into live sports and podcasts. The majority of Netflix’s $20 billion programming budget is still allocated to films, TV shows, and video games.