Netflix has dismissed its chief content officer Bela Bajaria, film chief Dan Lin and about 1,000 other employees as the streaming company confronts falling viewer engagement and a weak run of scripted programming.
The cuts affect roughly 6 per cent of Netflix’s workforce and represent one of the clearest signs yet that the company is preparing to change direction. Bajaria and Lin were the two most senior figures overseeing its programming operation.
Netflix, which has about 325 million subscribers worldwide, has seen viewers open the service on fewer days each month and spend less time watching when they do. Its share price has also fallen by 44 per cent over the past year.
The difficulties have emerged despite an expansive strategy under Bajaria, whose tenure began in January 2023. Netflix increased the volume and range of its output, combining scripted series and original films with reality television, true-crime documentaries and live events.
That approach produced major international successes, including South Korea’s Squid Game and British series such as Baby Reindeer and Adolescence. They sat alongside established American hits including Stranger Things, Bridgerton and Wednesday.
But the 2026 schedule has been marked by more misses than breakouts. The year began promisingly with His & Hers, a crime thriller starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal, but shows including Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials, Big Mistakes, Man on Fire and Detective Hole failed to make a comparable impact.
There have been exceptions. Critics praised Vladimir, while the British period crime drama Legends, Louis Theroux’s Inside the Manosphere, Australia’s My Brilliant Career and Florence Pugh’s East of Eden were among the stronger performers.
However, the service has struggled to replace the scale of its biggest previous successes. The Boroughs, a science-fiction series from the creators of Stranger Things, was cancelled soon after its release, while second seasons of programmes including The Four Seasons, Man on the Inside and Beef attracted fewer viewers or failed to match the response to their first runs.
Netflix faces a long turnaround
Peter Rice, a former Fox and Disney executive, has been named as Bajaria’s replacement. Any change in the company’s creative direction is likely to take time, since commissions made under the previous leadership will continue to appear well into 2027.
Netflix’s broad ambition to offer something for everyone has also created structural questions. The platform has considered YouTube its principal rival and sought to become a single destination for an unusually wide range of viewing, but that breadth may risk leaving individual audiences less well served.
The company may also need to reconsider how it releases programmes. While Netflix commonly makes entire seasons available at once, some series could benefit from a weekly or staggered schedule. The Diplomat and Nobody Wants This have built loyal audiences while maintaining a yearly rhythm between seasons.
It remains unclear whether the current difficulties represent a temporary setback or a more lasting shift for Netflix. But the departure of its two most senior programming executives, alongside the large-scale redundancies, signals an important reassessment of the streaming giant’s strategy.
