AMC Global Media CEO Kristin Dolan said “a lot of the major players” in streaming looked at licensing The Walking Dead, but in the end re-upping with Netflix in a co-exclusive with AMC+ was “the right choice.”
On the company’s second-quarter earnings call shortly after the company announced the 5-year, $500 million deal, Dolan fielded numerous questions about the zombie series transaction.
“We had a lot of of the major players involved and there was a variety of things to consider,” the exec said of the negotiations, which were led by Chief Commercial Officer Kim Kelleher. “We always knew we wanted to do a co-exclusive deal, but the opportunity to license everything to everybody – to one group globally versus piecemeal” proved attractive.
Starting in January 2027, all 371 episodes of the franchise, spanning the original series and six spinoffs, will stream on Netflix as well as AMC+. Netflix has had rights since 2011 in the U.S., and in this round is adding rights in the UK, Italy, Australia and other global territories.
“There are a lot of different factors that impacted the decision,” Dolan added, but “Netflix has been an incredible partner for us and for this franchise, and at the end of the day, it was just the right choice for us to make.”
The companies have long had close ties, dating back to early original series like Breaking Bad and Mad Men, both of which were early beneficiaries of Netflix exposure as they built their audiences. More recently, AMC Global’s Dark Winds has maintained a steady tempo over the past few years, with new seasons airing on linear and AMC+ before gaining significant traction on Netflix. Season 4 of the period mystery series performed well in its initial window last year en route to reaching Netflix’s top 10 earlier this year, Dolan said.
Asked about the anticipated impact of The Walking Dead on AMC+, the niche streaming service that launched in 2020, Dolan didn’t offer any projections for engagement or subscriber additions, but said she was upbeat. Previously, select parts of the Walking Dead universe have been available on AMC+, but never the full franchise.
AMC+ is “a destination for our core fan base,” she said. Even though episodes will also stream on Netflix, “we feel really positive that it is going to increase and build on the increasing engagement that we’re already seeing for AMC+ and our other services. People do associate this IP very specifically with AMC, so I think it can cohabitate quite nicely on AMC+ and on Netflix and do really good work for both streaming services.”
