Los Angeles — While competitors race to catch up with Netflix, the largest online TV service in the world is adhering to a simple strategy to maintain its lead: you have to spend money to make money. The streaming pioneer will spend up to $8bn on programming next year, as much as a third more than in 2017. The increase alone is almost as much as HBO spends annually. Netflix, based in California, will also spend more than $1bn on marketing. The money will fund an ever-growing array of programming designed to attract even more customers. The company’s long-term budget for movies and TV shows totals $17bn. Critics say the spending is risky, and concerned investors sent shares down on Tuesday even though the online TV service reported on Monday its best third quarter to date for subscriber gains. The stock dropped as much as 2.4% to $197.77 in New York trading. Here’s how Netflix will spend that $8bn: Eighty original movies: Chief content officer Ted Sarandos said Netflix would release ...
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