Is Netflix a universal language?
The entertainment giant is counting on it as the company seeks to expand its leadership in the global streaming business. On Monday, Netflix unveiled its latest slate of international original shows, which are a key part of its strategy to attract and retain subscribers around the world.
The list includes the highly anticipated sequel to the violent Korean drama “Squid Game,” Netflix's most-watched show; “The Leopard,” an Italian story about a prince from the 1860s; and the third season of the Japanese series “Alice in Borderland.” Another ambitious project: the first television adaptation of the classic novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”
The Los Gatos, California-based streamer's strategy is to create local language shows and movies that appeal to audiences in specific individual markets and regions. If those shows increase in popularity, Netflix can use its platform to book them in other countries, including the United States, which is what happened with the first season of “The Squid Game” and the Spanish-language thriller “La casa de papel.”
International markets are an important source of the company's subscriber and revenue growth. Netflix estimates that two-thirds of its audience of 650 million people live outside the US.
“We're working with local talent to make shows and movies that people in specific countries will love,” Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria said at a presentation at the Tudum Theater in Hollywood on Monday. “And we're proving that great stories can come from anywhere and be loved by audiences around the world.”
Netflix audiences have embraced international programming as viewers have become increasingly accustomed to reading subtitles at home. More than 70% of all viewing on Netflix is done with subtitles or dubbing, Bajaria said. Last year, about 13% of hours watched in the United States were for titles that were not in English.
Bajaria said some people assume the main goal is to create global hits, but that's usually not the way at Netflix, which is to make shows and movies that resonate in their home countries first.
The reason many of their shows work is that audiences appreciate the authenticity of local storytelling. “[W]“When you try to do something that appeals to everyone, you end up making something that no one likes,” he said.
The company has a significant presence abroad, with 26 offices outside the US, working with more than 1,000 producers from more than 50 countries. The non-English language titles that attract the largest American audience are Korean, Japanese and Spanish stories, Bajaria said.
The best example of how the strategy works is “The Squid Game,” which captured 265.2 million views in its first 91 days on Netflix, according to company data. The second season of the series comes out on December 26.
Will the second season's viewership reach the heights of the original?
Minyoung Kim, Netflix's vice president of content for Asia Pacific, was reluctant to speculate, but noted that the number of Netflix subscribers has increased since “Squid Game” came out in 2021 and that the next season is full of drama.
“I'm very confident that our members who watched season 1 will definitely love season 2 and those who haven't really been introduced to it will find that season 2 will resonate with them as well,” Kim said in an interview.
Netflix executives say their commitment to telling authentic local stories has helped them earn the trust of creators. Next month, Netflix will release Part 1 of “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” based on Gabriel García Márquez's sprawling magical realism novel about the rise and fall of a fictional town in Colombia.
Francisco Ramos, vice president of Latin American content, said in a presentation video that until now no one had tried to adapt the book into a series or film, nor had the García Márquez family approved any adaptation.
“But we were able, thanks to our commitment to the family, to film in Colombia, in a series format to honor the original structure of the book, and in Spanish to guarantee authenticity,” Ramos said.
