Netflix Roasts Conan O’Brien on Twitter

Late night host Conan O’Brien decided to poke fun at Netflix and its large amount of original shows and films scheduled for 2018 with a snappy tweet, but it promptly backfired.

“Netflix announced it will release over 700 original TV series and movies this year,” O’Brien wrote. “That explains their new slogan, ‘Quantity.’”

But the streaming juggernaut was not about to take that lying down.

“Looking forward to the 1,138th episode of Conan tonight,” the network’s Twitter channel joked in a retweet.

Netflix’s followers quickly took notice.

While he may have wound up as the butt of a joke, O’Brien did actually state a fact when he pointed out the roughly 700 original films and series planned by the streaming service, which includes Netflix favorites like Stranger Things and licensed content, like The Walking Dead. The company’s CFO David Wells confirmed that figure during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference this past February.

“People don’t care where the stories come from,” Wells said. “We’re about having the best content. We don’t necessarily have to do it ourselves.”

Netflix also plans on having its marketing budget climb by over 50% during 2018.

“We used to think every incremental dollar was best spent on content,” Wells said, but they’re finally focusing on advertising because “we think marketing is a multiplier on the content spend.”

The company found itself in some hot water on social media this week when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings gave his opinion on the concept of “inclusion riders.

“We’re not so big on doing everything through agreements,” Hastings said a press meeting, according to USA TODAY. “We’re trying to do things creatively.”

For those who don’t know, an inclusion rider is a term an actor can put in his or her contract that demands gender and racial equality during the higher process for film sets.

The concept became part of the public conversation following Frances McDormand’s acceptance speech at the Academy Awards, where she demanded the concept be included and implemented throughout Hollywood.

“Okay, look around ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed. Don’t talk to us about it at the parties tonight; invite us into your office in a couple days or you can come to ours, whichever suits you best. And we’ll tell you all about them,” she said while accepting the Oscar for her role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. “I have two words to leave with you tonight ladies and gentlemen: inclusion rider.”