Hi, I'm Missa Kwonger. And I'm Ryan Hunt. And we co-host Stadio, a football podcast on the Ring of Podcast Network.

If you like soccer or football, make sure you search for Stadio, a football podcast on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

It is Monday, January 29th. It's been a pretty wild week for Netflix. Last Monday, Scott Stuber,

its head of film for the past seven years, and arguably the most powerful person in the movie

business, given the volume that Netflix puts out. He stepped down. There's a long time coming.

I reported in my puck newsletter that he wanted to make fewer movies, better movies,

give some of them theatrical releases

and marketing, something the top leadership in Netflix has resisted, despite a lot of evidence

that theatrical releases actually boosts viewership on streaming.

Then the next day, and I don't think this is a coincidence, Netflix announced a massive deal

with WWE for Monday Night Raw.

It's up to 10 years and $5 billion for the U.S. and some territories overseas,

putting Netflix in the live sports business, or at least sports, quote, entertainment.

A distinction that Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO, said is significant, but from a media rights

perspective, it really isn't that different from

sports. W.W.E is actually better than regular sports because it's 52 weeks a year,

150 hours of programming can be manipulated for better ratings. A huge moment for Netflix,

and I would argue that it's the end of one era in the beginning of a new one, where Netflix is all

about engagement, time spent on the platform.

They're selling ads now, and they don't want you to just subscribe. They want you to watch a lot.

So sports or fake sports make sense, as long as they can keep the costs under control.

Then last week, Netflix got 18 Oscar nominations, second only to Disney among the conglomerates,

...