Netflix could produce content in Singapore or by Singaporeans, if its chief content officer Ted Sarandos is true to his word that there is no market too small for its ambitions.
“If we’re making a show only for Singapore, then it might be considered small. But if we’re making something in Singapore for the world, it can be quite big,” he said in an interview.
Ramping up its library of original content, including non-American offerings, is one of the streaming giant’s main global expansion strategies.
Sarandos, 51, points to the example of how Netflix has managed to capture Mexican audiences and beyond through its localised content.
Referring to its Mexican comedy-drama series Club de Cuervos (2015), the company’s first local language original production, he said: “About 80% of the people watching that are in Mexico, but 20% of the audience are people watching outside of Mexico. Just having that additional audience reach enables us to produce on a very big scale.”
This year alone, Netflix is spending US$5bil (RM19.5) on producing original content, compared to Discovery’s US$2bil (RM7.8bil), according to reports.
This month, it will debut comedy series Love Dynamite, starring stand-up comic Maria Bamford, and in September, Marvel’s latest series Luke Cage. On the feature film front, principal photography has just started on Okja, a new monster movie from acclaimed South Korean director Bong Joon-ho.
Analysts say Netflix’s greatest challenge now, following its massive launch in 130 countries in January, is having to grow its subscriber base in the local regions.
Sarandos is optimistic: “ In Japan, for example, we can know what they like to watch from their movie-going habits, but we won’t know what it’s like when they have a lot of choice on a platform like Netflix.
“Western content is not dominant in Japan, but I don’t think that’s something genetic about Japanese audiences – it’s mostly a function of what they had the opportunity to watch.
“But if you tell great stories and have great production values, I think people everywhere around the world will want to see that.” – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network/Yip Wai Yee
