Obligations” is incorporated herein by reference.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reported periods. The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has defined a company’s critical accounting policies as the ones that are most important to the portrayal of a company’s financial condition and results of operations, and which require a company to make its most difficult and subjective judgments. Based on this definition, we have identified the critical accounting policies and judgments addressed below. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

Streaming Content



We license and acquire rights to stream TV shows, movies, and original content to members for unlimited viewing. These rights are for a fixed fee and specify windows of availability. Payment terms for certain content agreements require more upfront cash payments relative to expense.

We capitalize the fee per title and record a corresponding liability at the gross amount of liabilities when the license period begins, the cost of the title is known and the title is accepted and available for streaming. The portion available for streaming within one year is recognized as “Current content library, net” and the remaining portion as “Non-current content library, net” on the Consolidated Balance sheets. The acquisition of streaming content rights and the changes in related liabilities are classified within cash provided by operating activities on the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

 

We amortize the content library in “Cost of revenues” on a straight line or on an accelerated basis, as appropriate:



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For content that does not premiere on the Netflix service (representing the vast majority of content), we amortize on a straight-line basis over the shorter of each title's contractual window of availability or estimated period of use, beginning with the month of first availability. The amortization period typically ranges from six months to five years.

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For content that premieres on the Netflix service, we expect more upfront viewing due to the additional merchandising and marketing efforts for this original content available only on Netflix. Hence, we amortize on an accelerated basis over the amortization period, which is the shorter of four years or the license period, beginning with the month of first availability. If a subsequent season is added, the amortization period is extended by a year.

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If the cost per title cannot be reasonably estimated, the license fee is not capitalized and costs are expensed on a straight line basis over the license period. This typically occurs when the license agreement does not