The war over original-content streaming is hotter than ever, which means Netflix is in increasing danger of losing its crown. And while Jerry Seinfeld alone isn’t going to keep Netflix on top, he will certainly help.
The streaming giant has scored a deal with Seinfeld to move his “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” web series over to Netflix, in time for its 10th season, the company announced Tuesday. The deal also includes two original standup specials.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the deal is worth $100 million for Seinfeld, a sign of Netflix’s confidence in his lasting popularity.
This is a loss for Crackle, Sony’s streaming network, where the web series debuted in 2012 and has reportedly garnered over 100 million views to date; “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” arguably put Crackle on the map.
But it’s a bigger loss for HBO, the exclusive home of original comedy programming including one-off shows from comedians like Louis CK, Sarah Silverman, and Bill Maher, and comedy series like “Silicon Valley,” “Veep,” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which will soon return for a ninth season. (And speaking of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Seinfeld is close with Larry David, the show’s creator and star and the creator of “Seinfeld,” which makes it an even bigger coup for Netflix that Seinfeld didn’t go to HBO.) Netflix isn’t just getting Seinfeld’s short series and two comedy specials, it is adding him to its family: the company’s announcement says he will also “help develop scripted and non-scripted comedy programming for Netflix.”
There is an increasing march of new and growing streaming platforms, from Sony PlayStation Vue to AT&T’s DirecTV Now to Hulu’s planned “skinny bundle.” You could have even imagined Seinfeld signing a deal with Apple or with Facebook, both of which have announced plans to create original streaming content. But in premium comedy, the two names that matter most are HBO and Netflix.
Missing out on Seinfeld isn’t about to cripple HBO in its battle with Netflix, but it is a considerable loss, and a surprise considering that many insiders fully expected Seinfeld to move to HBO once his Crackle agreement expired at the end of the ninth season.
As the Wall Street Journal writes, HBO has “long been seen as the home for stand-up stars of that stature.” Seinfeld, like Larry David, certainly fits the premium comedy image, which is why HBO would have been the obvious move. But the landscape has changed, as Seinfeld himself said in his statement about the deal: “When I first started thinking about Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, the entire Netflix business model consisted of mailing out DVDs in envelopes. I love that we are now joining together, both at very different points.”
Netflix has beefed up its comedy lineup recently, signing deals for new stand-up specials from Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock and Amy Schumer, as well as buying the rights to existing standup shows from Louis CK and others.
All of the existing 59 episodes of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” which feature Seinfeld driving classic cars and having coffee with fellow funny people like Will Ferrell, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Colbert, will go on Netflix later this year, and presumably will be taken off YouTube, where they currently go for free consumption. (Netflix has not yet responded to a request for comment.) More importantly, Netflix will get 24 new episodes, Deadline reports.
New episodes could mean new subscribers who have never seen the series. And that could mean, yes, that Jerry Seinfeld can actually be a revenue boost to Netflix, especially because his fame is global, and Netflix is aggressively expanding internationally.
The company reported its 2016 fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday. It added 7 million new subscribers, handily beating the 5 million analysts expected. The service now boasts 94 million subscribers total.
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Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering sports business and technology. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
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