With the global coronavirus pandemic not looking to slow down any time soon, streaming services will likely continue to be the go-to entertainment choice of people looking to avoid infection. Netflix is ensuring that it stays on top of the pack by naming a new head of global television.
Deadline reports that Netflix has promoted Bela Bajaria as Netflix’s head of Global TV. Before taking on this new role, Bajaria was the vice-president of Local Language Originals. She worked alongside Cindy Holland, who was the vice-president of Original Content.
As part of her work with Local Language Originals, Bajaria shepherded the Queer Eye reboot, which was a massive success for Netflix. Queer Eye went on to win a total of seven Emmy awards in the 2018 and 2019 Emmy Awards.
Bajaria is also behind the streaming service’s successful collaborations with basic cable, as seen with the show’s You and Good Girls. She was also in charge of international comedy, unscripted, and scripted non-English television originals.
As explained by Variety, the promotion was a decision made by Netflix’s new co-CEO, Ted Sarandos. The Global TV head position brings together the Local Language Originals and Original Content under Bajaria’s purview.
However, the streamlining has resulted in the departure of Holland from the company. Holland is a Netflix veteran who has been with the streaming service for close to 20 years and was instrumental in transforming the company from a DVD-by-mail service into a streaming one.
Holland also spearheaded the move to the original content. She was behind such Netflix hits as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things, The Crown, Ozark, and Narcos.
Bajaria’s promotion comes after Netflix’s announcement of its hiring of Bozoma Saint John as its new chief marketing officer. Saint John began the job this August and expressed her enthusiasm at increasing audience engagement with the company.
Before taking on the position at Netflix, Saint John handled brands like WME, IMG, UFC, and Miss Universe as the chief marketing officer of Endeavor. She also headed Apple Music and iTunes department of consumer marketing and was Pepsi North America’s head of music and entertainment marketing.
These executive shake-ups are probably meant to strengthen Netflix’s position as the leading streaming service around the world. During the pandemic, Netflix was able to add 16 million more paid subscribers during the pandemic, bringing their total number of paid subscribers to 187 million.
As the global coronavirus pandemic continues to rage, the number of those subscribers might swell even further. According to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 dashboard for Sept. 8, there are now 27,236,916 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. Deaths are now at 891,031 people.