Money talks: Netflix beats Hulu, Joost to secure "South Park" episodes

It was only last week that I questioned whether Netflix had a large enough online video library to justify offering a streaming-only subscription plan, but with today’s news that the service has bagged itself a boat load of “South Park” content, they’re certainly putting their money where their mouth is.

The New York Times reports that Netflix beat competitors Hulu and Joost to a deal by offering a guaranteed cash payment rather than a share of future advertising revenue, the latter being a far less enticing proposition during this ad-shy economic downturn.

“There was no talk of ad splits or guarantees or advances, just a payment for a show Netflix seemed really happy to have,” Matt Stone, co-creator of South Park, tells NYT. “We’ve never given the show to anybody else to stream, but we like Netflix as a service. We use it.”

See also: Forget about getting any work done, every episode of “South Park” now available online

Revenue generated from Netflix, who have licensed the first nine seasons of South Park, will be shared 50/50 with the show’s production partner Comedy Central.

, ,

last100 is edited by Steve O'Hear. Aside from founding last100, Steve is co-founder and CEO of Beepl and a freelance journalist who has written for numerous publications, including TechCrunch, The Guardian, ZDNet, ReadWriteWeb and Macworld, and also wrote and directed the Silicon Valley documentary, In Search of the Valley. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

Leave a Reply