The everything platform: Netflix’s push to podcasts latest in search for growth
Netflix is moving into podcasts, buying a Hollywood movie studio, and will soon operate a legacy cable network that mostly screens black-and-white cinema. It develops video games, airs live sporting matches, and hosts a week-long comedy festival starring the world’s funniest performers. In 2026, Nathan Jolly writes, Netflix is no longer a streaming service competing with other streaming services: it is, like Amazon, an “everything” company.
Pardon My Take, the top-ranked sports podcast on Barstool, is part of Netflix's new 'everything' strategy
As Friday night becomes Saturday morning on the east coast of Australia, a man named Alex Honnold will begin climbing one of the tallest buildings in the world, the 508-metre Taipei 101 in Taiwan. He will have no ropes, no safety nets, and a global audience watching the attempt live on Netflix.
The aptly named Skyscraper Live will beam out during Friday night primetime across the US, and it could be the boldest experiment from Netflix to date. With the company’s earnings call during the week focusing on current podcast strategies, a newly revised all-cash offer on the table that will likely see it take over a classic Hollywood studio and a prestige TV company — plus what could become the most widely broadcast death since the Lee Harvey Oswald assassination — this week marks a major tipping point in the entertainment world.
Netflix can no longer be considered a simple streaming platform, competing with the likes of Disney+, Prime Video, or Hulu for subscription TV dollars. The video platform is taking over the world, one acquisition at a time.
