netflix: ‘We have done 70 Indian Netflix originals, 90 are in the pipeline’ | India News – Rashtra News : Rashtra News
#netflix #Indian #Netflix #originals #pipeline #India #News #Times #India
Reed Hastings,founder and co-CEO of Netflix is bullish about India. In an interview to TOI, Hastings and the company’s vice president for content,Monika Shergill, detailed the India strategy and spoke on a range of issues from what Indians are watching to regulation. Excerpts from the conversation:
What is India strategy for now and the content play that you are engaged in?
• Reed Hastings: Many of the shows that Monika is doing here are extraordinary. We have launched 70 Indian Netflix originals already. Some have won international Emmy. White Tiger got a lot of positive accolades. Monika is expanding regional content from the South. Now we have got 90 shows in the pipeline already that are developed. 70 done, 90 commissioned and in the pipeline.
Monika Shergill: The way the Netflix model works beautifully as we have experienced across countries is that consumers come to Netflix for both quality and diversity. For us what actually works is diversity, because your Netflix is different from my Netflix. Which is why when we say we have done 70 titles in India — this is across doc series, this is across content like Indian matchmaking, content like the Emmy award-winning Delhi Crime, Jamtara which is on phishing, the crime dramas.
The new slate actually what we are coming out with will be a significant sort of step change in the market, also the way we have planned it, hoping very humbly that it lands like that, is the velocity of content, the kind of stories that we will bring at scale and at velocity which Netflix is globally known for. So that is what we are aiming to do from the end of this year.
Are you planning any acquisitions because there are very good production houses in the country and some of them in vernacular language space?
• Hastings: Titles yes, but production companies like that we are not competing with them. So if we start buying one or two — all the others are worried. So we think all the commissions that we are doing is with local production companies, which builds their capacity. And then they contract with us, they do something with us, they do something with Prime.
So they get to build strong businesses, without being dependant on us and that’s how we build the industry, with that independent production. So I think we are better just commissioning content or acquiring titles but not companies.
What kind of genres actually work in India? What are Indians watching?
• Shergill: You can see that on the one hand, there is a Sacred Games which has done so well. And on the other extreme end, there’s a Haseen Dillruba which has actually exploded across 22 countries, and has been on the top 10 list and has worked in tier one, tier two cities and across. And then documentaries have gone up by 100%.
Kids content on Netflix has gone up by 100% viewing. We have had K dramas, which have actually gone up nearly, I don’t know, 400%. Romance as a genre is very less serviced in India, it is in cinema. But the kind of romance people want to see which K dramas have been showing in a very small set of audience. But that audience base can expand is a taste. We are very, very big on crime.
Should streaming content be regulated?
• Hastings: In every county we provide extensive parental controls. We really want each family to be able to set and enforce their standards. We give our families tremendous control. The Internet has changed the perceptions of control, broadcast television and movie theatres. In many countries, they are more controlled and the Internet is more open. So that’s a change societies are adjusting to.
But the way we are reacting to it is to provide each family with the controls they want. If you and your wife are watching you don’t need any controls, if you got 14-year olds then you want a lot of controls. So we are very flexible that way.
Would you agree that the content that’s flowing in needs to be controlled or regulated, right from the point where you are broadcasting it and not at the point of consumption?
• Hastings: It’s a little of both. Because look, we self-regulate too like the industry, and try to be thoughtful about that. So we don’t have any pornography. I mean, we don’t, there’s lots of things we don’t have.
Okay, so we essentially selfregulate in terms of the kind of content we have. But some of our content, you know, as Sex Education. It’s very funny but you know, it’s not good for a 14 year old. So we have both.
What are the unique things that you notice about India when compared to other markets?
• Hastings: I think as you said, the broadband, the mobile prices being so low, you know, 200 rupees or 300 rupees a month, it is extraordinary and not like any other country.
What percentage would be on mobile? And how much would be on television?
• Hastings: It’s about half and half in India.
What is India strategy for now and the content play that you are engaged in?
• Reed Hastings: Many of the shows that Monika is doing here are extraordinary. We have launched 70 Indian Netflix originals already. Some have won international Emmy. White Tiger got a lot of positive accolades. Monika is expanding regional content from the South. Now we have got 90 shows in the pipeline already that are developed. 70 done, 90 commissioned and in the pipeline.
Monika Shergill: The way the Netflix model works beautifully as we have experienced across countries is that consumers come to Netflix for both quality and diversity. For us what actually works is diversity, because your Netflix is different from my Netflix. Which is why when we say we have done 70 titles in India — this is across doc series, this is across content like Indian matchmaking, content like the Emmy award-winning Delhi Crime, Jamtara which is on phishing, the crime dramas.
The new slate actually what we are coming out with will be a significant sort of step change in the market, also the way we have planned it, hoping very humbly that it lands like that, is the velocity of content, the kind of stories that we will bring at scale and at velocity which Netflix is globally known for. So that is what we are aiming to do from the end of this year.
Are you planning any acquisitions because there are very good production houses in the country and some of them in vernacular language space?
• Hastings: Titles yes, but production companies like that we are not competing with them. So if we start buying one or two — all the others are worried. So we think all the commissions that we are doing is with local production companies, which builds their capacity. And then they contract with us, they do something with us, they do something with Prime.
So they get to build strong businesses, without being dependant on us and that’s how we build the industry, with that independent production. So I think we are better just commissioning content or acquiring titles but not companies.
What kind of genres actually work in India? What are Indians watching?
• Shergill: You can see that on the one hand, there is a Sacred Games which has done so well. And on the other extreme end, there’s a Haseen Dillruba which has actually exploded across 22 countries, and has been on the top 10 list and has worked in tier one, tier two cities and across. And then documentaries have gone up by 100%.
Kids content on Netflix has gone up by 100% viewing. We have had K dramas, which have actually gone up nearly, I don’t know, 400%. Romance as a genre is very less serviced in India, it is in cinema. But the kind of romance people want to see which K dramas have been showing in a very small set of audience. But that audience base can expand is a taste. We are very, very big on crime.
Should streaming content be regulated?
• Hastings: In every county we provide extensive parental controls. We really want each family to be able to set and enforce their standards. We give our families tremendous control. The Internet has changed the perceptions of control, broadcast television and movie theatres. In many countries, they are more controlled and the Internet is more open. So that’s a change societies are adjusting to.
But the way we are reacting to it is to provide each family with the controls they want. If you and your wife are watching you don’t need any controls, if you got 14-year olds then you want a lot of controls. So we are very flexible that way.
Would you agree that the content that’s flowing in needs to be controlled or regulated, right from the point where you are broadcasting it and not at the point of consumption?
• Hastings: It’s a little of both. Because look, we self-regulate too like the industry, and try to be thoughtful about that. So we don’t have any pornography. I mean, we don’t, there’s lots of things we don’t have.
Okay, so we essentially selfregulate in terms of the kind of content we have. But some of our content, you know, as Sex Education. It’s very funny but you know, it’s not good for a 14 year old. So we have both.
What are the unique things that you notice about India when compared to other markets?
• Hastings: I think as you said, the broadband, the mobile prices being so low, you know, 200 rupees or 300 rupees a month, it is extraordinary and not like any other country.
What percentage would be on mobile? And how much would be on television?
• Hastings: It’s about half and half in India.
( News Source :Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Rashtra News staff and is published from a timesofindia.indiatimes.com feed.)