If there’s one thing that Netflix has above all of its streaming competitors, it’s a large and varied lineup of quality original shows to offer its subscribers.
On top of being a good way to provide content for the platform that’s free from licence expiration dates, Netflix Originals also serve as a means to attract new subscribers to the streaming service, which is why the company is planning to expand its reach by producing more unique shows aimed at less traditional markets.
In an onstage interview with New York Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin at the DealBook conference, Hastings spoke of the possibility of creating original anime and Bollywood shows aimed at audiences on a global scale.
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Global domination
“We're hopeful that we'll over time make a great Bollywood show, make a great anime show,” said Hastings, explaining that audiences would be “more segmented, but again the internet let's you do that,” also suggesting that “the key [is] in that enablement.”
Hastings pointed to the success of its recent internationally-focused series, Narcos, as an example of how the model works.
“It's a very different kind of show,” explained Hastings, as it involved Netflix teaming up with the “oldest movie company in the world – French company Gaumont – to make a production in Bogota, Columbia featuring Brazilian actors and directed by a Brazilian.”
He also pointed out that the show is “ hugely popular in Germany,” despite being “three quarters Spanish, one quarter English.”
The Netflix boss stated that company is planning to spend $5 billion on content over the next year on original programming, high-profile talent acquisitions, and the purchasing of distribution rights to quality films, just as it did recently with the critically-acclaimed drama, Beasts of No Nation.
