Netflix may be planning to produce more local content for its Singaporean subscribers, but Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos suggested that any local video likely could play globally, a la Narcos – a drama about the drug trade set in Colombia – has been able to do.
BidnessEtc reports that Sarandos said, “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.”
Local content is a crucial piece of Netflix’s expansion, especially in areas like APAC.
Sarandos cited the success of Netflix’s Mexican comedy/drama Club de Cuervos, which attracts as much as 20% of its audience from countries other than Mexico.
“Just having that additional audience reach enables us to produce on a very big scale,” he said.
The Spanish-language show has been able to attract an audience from the rest of Latin America, Spain, the U.S. and parts of the Caribbean.
Spain and the U.S.
Singaporean content likely would be produced in Mandarin Chinese, which is seen in many APAC markets, and remains the most widely spoken language in the world.
Netflix is expected to spend more than $5 billion on original content in 2016, about 600 hours worth.
Stay tuned.
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