Reed Hastings

Things Reed Says on Podcasts

Where to Find Them

Reed Hastings writes a16z Podcast . They have also been a guest on Masters of Scale (4 times) , Wall Street Week , The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway , On with Kara Swisher , The Tim Ferriss Show , The Knowledge Project (Shane Parrish) , How I Built This (Guy Raz) , Recode Media , Possible , Freakonomics Radio and Invest Like the Best (Patrick O'Shaughnessy) .

Recently: “Reed Hastings on Hollywood’s Future, Netflix’s Shakeup and Knowing When to Leave” on On with Kara Swisher (October 2026); “Possible: Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings: stories, schools, superpowers” on Masters of Scale (April 2026); “Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings: stories, schools, superpowers” on Possible (April 2026); “Netflix: Reed Hastings. “We’re Not a Family.” The Provocative Idea That Helped Build a Streaming Giant” on How I Built This (Guy Raz) (February 2026); “Reed Hastings - Building Netflix - [Invest Like the Best, EP.453]” on Invest Like the Best (Patrick O'Shaughnessy) (January 2026); “Netflix Founder Reed Hastings on Scaling High-Trust Culture & Bold Judgment” on The Knowledge Project (Shane Parrish) (June 2025).

What They Said

“We realized, it took a long time, that we could be distrusted, we could be disliked, but we can never be boring… That the essence of an entertainment brand is to be thrilling. Like you just can't ignore it.” — Reed Hastings, On with Kara Swisher

Asked how Netflix competes with YouTube, the Netflix co-founder says the strategy is more and better shows and films, plus live spectacles that grip people. An entertainment brand works differently from other brands, he says: being thrilling matters more than being liked.

On with Kara Swisher · 2026-10-26 Permalink → Listen →
On with Kara Swisher Around 10:01 into the episode
Reed Hastings

No, entertainment has very different brand properties. I would agree. So we want to be where you relax.

Kara Swisher

Sports is another area.

Reed Hastings

You know, for me, I think the strategy is doing more and better television shows, more and better movies. I think they are broadening. Bekta, you said there's the podcast. There's some cool things like Alex Honold, you know, climbing this tower in Taipei. You know, this very gripping. Yeah. Sort of things that are thrilling. So the core brand property is about being thrilling. Like we realized, it took a long time, that we could be distrusted, we could be disliked, but we can never be boring. Okay. That the essence of an entertainment brand is to be thrilling. Like you just can't ignore it. You got to participate. So that's what I think they're very good at is trying to be more and more thrilling.

Kara Swisher

So when you're like that, how do you compete with the YouTube? Because the numbers are really quite jarring, 14%. I know both my kids and you have kids similar ages. That's where they get all their information from is YouTube. And they like Netflix. There's no question they use. And they use my…

Reed Hastings

Well, see, if you look in the beginning of television, 1950s, 1960s, movie viewing went way down because suddenly there's this new hot object, television. And then movies got a lot better in the 1970s. There was a whole creative revolution in the pacing and the realism. And then movies fought back…

Kara Swisher

Yeah. But how do you make that thrilling? Like in the new age? Again, does you have to be short? Do you have to be snappy? Is that the only thing? I

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