Netflix cuts of film and TV executives hint at programming woes
Staff let go include a director of original TV series who worked on shows such as Stranger Things
Published Thu, Oct 15, 2026 · 09:07 AM
NETFLIX laid off several high-profile film and television executives on Wednesday (Oct 14), amid a broader round of job cuts, as the company struggles to find its next generation of hits.
Among the senior people let go were Doug Belgrad, a former Sony Pictures executive, and Carolina Garcia, director of original TV series, who worked on shows such as Stranger Things and 13 Reasons Why.
The cuts also involved staffers in series development, independent film acquisition and publicity.
A spokesperson declined to comment on the layoffs, which fell more heavily on Netflix’s tech, legal, human resources and product departments.
While regular dispatchings have long been part of Netflix’s corporate culture, the size of the latest cuts – some 6 per cent of staff or around 1,000 people – was extraordinary.
In a staff memo, Netflix co-chief executive officers Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters wrote that the company is strong, and would continue to invest aggressively in areas that improve the service and drive growth.
“Our mission – to entertain the world – is ambitious, and delivering on it requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritise our people and resources,” Sarandos and Peters said in the memo, which was reviewed by Bloomberg.
Once a stock-market highflier that signed up new subscribers, raised prices and introduced advertising, the subscription streaming giant has recently seen its revenue growth slow.
The company, which reports financial results on Oct 20, is expected to see its sales climb 11.9 per cent to US$12.88 billion, its slowest level of growth in three years.
Recent Netflix shows have seen their audiences decline in their second seasons. The service saw its Emmy Awards wins fall to a 10-year low in 2026, a year in which the stock has lost about 25 per cent of its value.
Media analyst Craig Huber wrote that the investor community is concerned that audience engagement on Netflix is stalling, as the total viewing hours rose a modest 2 per cent in the first half of the year, to 97 billion hours viewed.
The “lack of breakout content or major hits on Netflix, on absolute basis and relative to prior years, is a concern for being able to add a significant number of subscribers and keep the existing ones,” Huber said in a research note published ahead of Wednesday’s news.
Huber also called it a “bad sign” that Netflix has now decided to publish its engagement report, which provides a snapshot of what is popular with its subscribers, once a year, starting in 2027, rather than every six months.
Apptopia, a firm that tracks mobile app use, reported signs that Netflix subscribers are spending less time with the service.
The share of US subscribers who did not open the app rose 16.6 per cent in the third quarter, compared with the prior year. Time spent on the app in the US fell to 73 minutes a day. While that number is higher than a year ago, it has dropped for two straight quarters, according to Apptopia’s data.
Speaking at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in September, Sarandos acknowledged that Netflix was not growing as fast as he would like.
He said investments in live sports, podcasts and video games will help boost customer interest, but that ultimately it is original programming that counts.
“At the end of the day, we will win and lose by executing on that core, having the programming, the movies, and TV that you can’t live without,” he said. BLOOMBERG
