“Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire,” “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” and a handful of other AMC shows are coming to Netflix as part of a new deal between the network and the streamer.
The deal, which will put previous seasons of 13 AMC series on Netflix for a year, will take effect on August 19. It includes Season 1 of ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’, Season 1 of ‘Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire’, Season 1 of ‘Anne Rice’ Mayfair Witches” Season 1, “Monsieur Spade” Season 1, “A Discovery of Witches” Seasons 1-3, “Dark Winds” Seasons 1-2, “Fear the Walking Dead” Seasons 1-8, “Gangs of London” Seasons 1-2, “Into the Badlands” Seasons 1-3, “Kevin can F*** Himself” Seasons 1-2, “Preacher” Seasons 1-4, “That Dirty Black Bag” Season 1 and “The Terror” Season 1.
Two additional series — “The Walking Dead: Dead City” Season 1 and “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” Season 1 – will be released on Netflix on January 13.
Additionally, the new AMC series — plus the eleven seasons of “The Walking Dead” already on Netflix — will be offered commercial-free on the standard Netflix advertising plan.
AMC hopes that by tapping into Netflix’s massive audience (compare AMC’s 11.5 million paid streaming subscribers to Netflix’s 269.6 million) the network can bring massive attention to a lesser-seen but critically acclaimed series — e.g. ‘Breaking Bad’ effect .
AMC tested a similar strategy in 2023 when it sent “Fear the Walking Dead” and six other series to Max for just two months. A source close to the studio indicates that the promo has brought more attention to the series and driven traffic back to AMC’s platforms, implying that the network is not concerned about AMC+’s attrition.
Kristin Dolan, CEO of AMC Networks, said in a statement: “This agreement puts our high-quality shows in front of the vast audience of Netflix subscribers with the AMC brand clearly represented. These curated titles are also used strategically to drive interest in current and upcoming seasons across our direct-to-consumer and partner platforms. We believe this significant expansion of our Netflix relationship will increase viewership and engagement on Netflix, while also increasing awareness and interest in our award-winning content across AMC brand and partner platforms across our distribution ecosystem.”
AMC isn’t the only distributor sending content to Netflix. In 2023, Warner Bros. signed. Discovery signed a licensing deal with the streamer to bring shows like “Insecure,” “Ballers” and “Six Feet Under” to Netflix, as well as its own hub, Max. In January, “Sex and the City” joined that list of titles and immediately hit the Netflix Top 10 chart the following week.
The AMC deal comes at a time of turmoil for the network, which has been run by Dolan, the wife of company owner James Dolan, since February 27, 2023. Kristin Dolan started as CEO of AMC Networks on February 27, 2023. and shortly thereafter, he stepped down from the company’s board of directors on March 10. Previously, Dolan was the founder and CEO of TV analytics company 605.
Her appointment as CEO came after Christina Spade, former CFO of AMC Networks, resigned in November 2022 after a very short stint as CEO, following the departure of interim CEO Matt Blank. When Spade left, James Dolan was named interim executive chairman while a search began for another CEO of AMC Networks. He announced that “large-scale layoffs” would hit the company amid stagnation in streaming growth for AMC+ and its smaller platforms Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, ALLBLK and HIDIVE.
While AMC Networks saw some growth in streaming subscribers in the first quarter of this year, it also experienced a 13% decline in U.S. ad sales and faced linear headwinds in the upfront market.
Jennifer Maas contributed to this story.