Netflix Said to Offer to Buy Billboard Company in Its Largest Acquisition

Netflix is attempting its largest acquisition, offering more than $300 million (roughly Rs. 1,947 crores) to buy Regency Outdoor Advertising that owns billboards across Los Angeles. Aleksandra Michalska reports.

That's according to Reuters sources.

For now, Netflix is just one of the bidders.

But if it gets its way, Regency will be its biggest buy.

Netflix has advertised several of its series on Regency billboards, including Stranger Things and The Crown.

Reuters correspondent Liana Baker is covering the story, and said, "Regency has a lot of the billboards on the Sunset Strip, which media buyers tell us, is some of the most expensive billboard real estate in the country. So, Netflix could maybe save on marketing costs by taking this in-house and not having to pay an outside advertiser. And it could also boost its profile with Hollywood. It's in a bidding war with a lot of other Hollywood companies that are tracking talent, whether it's stars or screenwriters, so having that real estate will be really important for that."

Earlier this year, Netflix said it's increasing its spending on marketing for its original shows and movies to $2 billion (roughly Rs. 13,000 crores) this year to better compete with the likes of Amazon, Hulu and Disney.

comScore Senior Media Analyst, Paul Dergarabedian, said, "It's an interesting bringing together of the digital realm, the streaming realm, and the physical manifestation of that on a billboard. And it shows how important the eyeballs are, right? To get people driving down Sunset Boulevard, or wherever they may be, looking up, and seeing a large scale billboard devoted to original programming from Netflix can be very powerful, and I think that's what's driving this potential purchase of Regency billboards."

Netflix declined to comment. Regency did not respond to a request for comment.

© Thomson Reuters 2018