This must-read book on Netflix not only tells the firm's story, but analyzes how it has told it, assessing the crucial financial impacts this narrative has had. Heavily dependent on debt financing for its growth, Netflix’s stories about itself are imperative to its successes as a company – and Colin Crawford’s Netflix's Speculative Fictions is the first book to treat this part of the “Netflix story.” Narrating the growth of Netflix into what it is today, this book also offers methodological reflections on "investor lore" and the linguistic dimensions of financialization –what words do– that can be used to track other corporate narratives and "platform TV" offerings such as Disney+ and HBOMax. Netflix's Speculative Fictions is a necessary read for media industry studies, platform studies, studies of the financialization of culture, and any and all Netflix viewers who have an interest in understanding what they’re really watching when they watch Netflix.

Marc Steinberg, Concordia University

In this incisive analysis of Netflix’s financial history as numbers, data, and performance, Colin Crawford explores the calculus of value in the era of “platform TV.” A vibrant and timely contribution to industry studies, Netflix’s Speculative Fictions reveals that narratives of brand economics written for venture capitalists and investors can indeed be every bit as compelling as our favorite binge-worthy shows.

Jennifer Holt, University of California, Santa Barbara

At just over 100 pages, Netflix’s Speculative Fictions provides a compelling yet succinct argument for media industry scholars to pay close attention to the internal means through which executives speak to shareholders and investors. Crawford acknowledges the level of unknowability that remains in his object of study but reminds us that “investors and researchers (such as myself) have no way of verifying [viewership] claims, making its rhetorical framing and narrative perpetuation all the more important to analyze.” His own analysis of Netflix’s corporate speech provides a vital step for the field moving forward.

Media Industries Journal

Crawford’s book offers a powerful illustration of the way Netflix maintains its market dominance through speculative narratives of future value that drive investment in the company and secure subscribers. Netflix’s Speculative Fictions reveals how the company’s corporate communications can be just as interesting as its library of film and television. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to learn about Netflix and the impact of the financializing logics of platform capitalism on the entertainment industry. As the platform becomes the model of distribution in the streaming age, scholars across film and television studies must contend with the way that not only Netflix, but also the movies and TV episodes that are the focus of our writing, are increasingly sustained by speculative fictions.

Synoptique