We all remember watching “Friends,” the story of a tight knit group of six who made precious memories together. Watching episodes continuously for hours upon hours, we always wanted to know what would happen next. The sitcom had vivid memories and inside jokes that stuck to the audience, such as the relationship between Ross and Rachel, Monica’s obsession of organization and tidiness, and Chandler being the King of Sarcasm. It targeted us around our early teen years, making it one of the most popular sitcoms to this date. And yet, we almost lost the infamous show from Netflix in December.  

When Netflix bought “Friends” during 2015, their rights were set to expire in  December of 2018. The streaming company was unsure whether or not they should purchase the rights again for the upcoming years leading up to 2020, because the competition from other companies was tight. Luckily, they decided to renew their purchase, ensuring that this amazing show will not be lost.  However, in order to continue having the show on their database, Netflix had to pay $100 million to Warner Bros in order to keep the rights of “Friends.”

This steep price shows that this popular sitcom is wanted badly by other companies and and Warner Bros is making sure that “Friends” gets its money worth.  The demand for this type of content is increasing, and the number of consumers on streaming platforms is increasing just as quickly, so big companies must spend large amounts of money to sustain their viewers and intrigue others to come join and pay for a membership.   

In the end, viewers are excited that their beloved show is still streaming on one of the most popular platforms. We can only hope that Netflix purchases the rights once more when the time comes. For now, we still have the opportunity to binge watch the show, as many times as we want.