Netflix could be on the verge of losing 90’s hit television sitcom Friends, just nine months after the streaming service acquired all ten seasons of the show.
According to BTIG media analyst Rich Greenfield, once Disney and WarnerMedia have their upcoming streaming services, it is likely they will take most of their film and television series from Netflix to the new service.
As reported in Deadline, Greenfield said: “Content like ‘Friends’ is likely to disappear from Netflix in 2019 as WarnerMedia launches its own SVOD service.”
He added: “As more content creators launch their own SVOD services, how should investors think about the impact of losing high-profile syndicated content?”
According to statistics from Parrot Analytics as reported on Yahoo, Friends is the third most streamed Netflix show of the year so far in America, just behind The Big Bang Theory and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Friends is the UK’s most streamed show, 14 years after the sitcom ended.
Netflix themselves don’t appear to be too worried, however. Their Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos, said some of their most popular shows are Netflix Originals.
“We’ve been a pretty dependable buyer. Increasingly, some of those sellers have become complicated sellers, meaning there are conflicts within their own companies about what they want to sell and when they want to sell…some of our biggest brans, like ‘Stranger Things’ are owned and produced in-house, but we are still licensing a lot of content.”
He added: “Queer Eye, Fastest Car, Nailed It, Sugar Rush…these are all shows that people love in enormous numbers around the world. And we don’t have to go through the gun-to-the-head renegotiation.”
A recent poll by YouGov found that Chandler was the nation’s favourite Friends character, followed by Joey in second place, before Rachel, Ross and Monica respectively.
Speaking out on the chances of a potential Friends reunion and comeback special or series earlier this year, Jennifer Aniston said: “Anything is a possibility…Anything!