Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria Exiting

Bela Bajaria is out at Netflix. The news comes only 24 hours after the streamer underwent a massive cull, laying off around 1,000 employees. Bajaria joined the company, initially running its unscripted TV slate, in 2016 and was named Chief Content Officer in January 2023. There have been rumors about her being axed by the company for the last couple of weeks, all denied by Netflix. Former Disney exec Peter Rice has replaced her. It comes amid slowing growth for the streamer. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said recently at the Bloomberg Screentime event, “At the time we said that, I think we were pretty unsophisticated about how we talked about engagement. Meaning, in that world, all the revenue is equal, a profit is equal, all engagement is equal, and all engagement is not equal. We are growing engagement, on 200 billion hours of watching, we grew 2% in our last announcement.” Watch on Deadline Netflix has been struggling with ratings for second seasons for many of its shows including Beef and The Four Seasons. On its last earnings video, Sarandos claimed that it has actually improved this problem this year and said it was “very common” in the industry. Such issues, however, can’t have helped Bajaria’s cause. “I want to thank Bela for a decade of dedication, innovation, creativity and leadership,” said Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix. “She led enormous changes at Netflix. She helped broaden our content offering to include the large-scale expansion of unscripted programming and the launches of live events and sports, in addition to crafting and running a world class, global slate of films and series. I’m incredibly grateful for everything she’s done to help Netflix entertain the world.”