Streaming service reveals 2019 budget for more than 50 projects as it battles new rivals

Netflix has revealed it will be spending $500m (£400m) making more than 50 TV shows and films in the UK this year, as the streaming company prepares to dig deeper into its pockets to fight new rivals including Disney and Apple.

It is the first time Netflix has detailed its spend on making and licensing British-made shows – which include The Crown, Black Mirror and Sex Education.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society conference on Friday, Reed Hastings, Netflix’s chief executive, said the UK had the second-biggest production budget after the US.

And he hinted that the company would seek to fight off competition from rivals Apple, Amazon and Disney by offering “golden handcuff” deals to top-tier creative talent.

When asked by the Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark if Netflix was pursuing Phoebe Waller-Bridge for an exclusive talent deal, Hastings said he did not know. However, when asked if the company was seeking such deals with other talent, Hastings said: “You could say that, but I couldn’t possibly comment.”

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Netflix is thought to be arranging an exclusive tie-up with Charlie Brooker, the writer behind Black Mirror and Bandersnatch, and to be in negotiations for a deal with Peter Morgan, the creator of The Crown.

The company, which expects to spend about $15bn globally making and licensing TV shows and films this year, will increase its budget and productions still further to fight the challenge of the launch of a swathe of well-funded new rivals.

In October, it will take over all of Shepperton Studios, home to films ranging from Alien to Mary Poppins, as part of a 10-year deal to guarantee the space it needs to pump out its ever-increasing number of productions without delay.

Disney, which is due to launch its global streaming service, Disney+, recently struck a similar deal with Shepperton’s parent Pinewood Studios, home to the James Bond and Star Wars franchises.

Competition is heating up in the streaming wars as new entrants attempt to break the global duopoly of Netflix and Amazon. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have amassed 240 million subscribers worldwide, with almost 20 million in the UK.

Apple TV+ will launch on 1 November, with star attractions including Jennifer Aniston in her first TV series since Friends, a comedy drama called The Morning Show with fellow A-listers Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell.

Two weeks later, Disney+ will launch with content including the Star Wars films and original $100m TV series The Mandalorian, the Marvel universe, again including exclusive TV series spin-offs, Pixar films and family fare from Toy Story to Frozen, plus TV shows such as The Simpsons. WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, and NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service, will also launch next year.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reed Hastings says Netflix will be more open about how its shows are doing and how it operates. Photograph: Edgard Garrido/Reuters

Hastings predicted the new competition would further increase the cost of programmes and talent. The Crown is thought to be the most expensive UK drama at a reported cost of £100m, but Hastings said that to compete with the deep pockets of the new entrants “we will raise the bid to hold on to great content … some day The Crown will look like a bargain”.

Hastings said that as the market opens up, Netflix – which has previously been notoriously secretive about its programme ratings – would be more open about how its shows are doing and how it operates.

He said Netflix had to “grow up”, and tried to allay public service broadcasters’ fears about its power.

When asked about comments made this week by the Channel 4 chief executive, Alex Mahon, about concerns in the UK TV industry about “a growing concentration of power in the hands of just a few tech behemoths”, Hastings said: “In terms of too much power that can be a risk in a society definitely, and we need to be aware of that.

“Today we only win about 5% of television viewing hours so it’s nowhere near a concentration risk and we’re definitely trying to be supportive of iPlayer … [and] All 4.”

Netflix has significantly increased the number of its European productions this year, with 221 projects, including 153 originals, with a budget of well over $1bn. This is a more than 50% increase on 2018.

Kenton Allen, the chief executive of Big Talk Productions and a former producer of hits such as The Royle Family and Rev, welcomed the announcement of Netflix’s £500m UK budget, saying: “Bring it on.”

However, he added: “As a producer there are pros and cons. There’s an arms race on talent; they are doing some direct deals with writers so that takes those writers out of the market, so that’s a negative – you lose someone like Charlie Brooker.

“It’s a US showrunner model and UK writers are not on the whole showrunners, they need producers. Where does that put the British producer? Out of the picture frankly. But it’s a mixed ecology so we can still talk to them about other things and we will be finding new talent.”