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Tag: Netflix

  • ‘Squid Game’ reaches 111 million fans on Netflix

    ‘Squid Game’ reaches 111 million fans on Netflix

    Mumbai: Netflix has announced that the Korean drama “Squid Game” has reached 111 million fans, making the series the OTT platform’s biggest launch ever. It is also the first series to be watched across 100 million accounts.

    The show began streaming on 17 September and is on Netflix’s top ten lists in countries around the world. At the time of filing this report, it is trending at the top spot in India.

    The series creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk first began writing the script in 2008 and finished it in 2009. The show was initially planned to be a feature film. However, it was only 10 years after penning the idea that Netflix picked up the show and actually began working on it.

    “Squid Game” features actors Lee Jung-Jae, Park Hae Soo, HoYeon Jung, Wi Ha-joon, and Lee Byung-hun among others. The plot revolves around 456 contestants who are deeply in debt who are enticed into a dangerous game and made to play Korean children’s games where the winner will take away 45.6 billion South Korean won.

    In the past, Netflix has seen a lot of success with the Spanish series “Money Heist” and the German series “Dark” which grabbed the attention of viewers across the world.

    Netflix reported having 209 million paid subscribers globally in their Q2 2021 earnings release. In September, Netflix released a chart of its most-watched shows that feature “Bridgerton” at the top with 82 million subscribers tuning in for at least two minutes in the first 28 days.

  • Netflix acquires video game creator Night School Studio

    Netflix acquires video game creator Night School Studio

    Mumbai: Netflix has made its first big move in expanding its gaming portfolio with the acquisition of Night School Studio. The company has also launched a trio of casual mobile games in select European markets, according to a report by TechCrunch.

    “We’ll continue working with developers around the world and hiring the best talent in the industry to deliver a great collection of exclusive games designed for every kind of gamer and any level of play,” noted Netflix vice president – game development Mike Verdu. “Like our shows and films, these games will all be included as part of your Netflix membership — all with no ads and no in-app purchases.”

    Founded by Sean Krankel and Adam Hines in 2014, video game creator Night School Studio is best known for its critically acclaimed debut game “Oxenfree.”

    “Netflix gives film, TV, and now game makers an unprecedented canvas to create and deliver excellent entertainment to millions of people,” said Night School Studio’s Krankel. “Our explorations in narrative gameplay and Netflix’s track record of supporting diverse storytellers was such a natural pairing. It felt like both teams came to this conclusion instinctively.”

    Netflix has mentioned its plans to enter the gaming industry amidst intense competition in the streaming business with competitors gaining subscribers rapidly. Netflix launched its first gaming title based on the “Stranger Things” franchise in Poland. These titles became available via a ‘Games’ tab within the Netflix app to subscribers.  

    The company launched three casual games including “Shooting Hoops,” “Teeter Up” and “Card Blast” to Netflix members in Italy and Spain. Subscribers from Spain and Italy will gain access to these trio of gaming and the two existing “Stranger Things” titles that have already been released.

    Netflix plans to launch games in other markets including the US in the near future. It began with Poland as an initial test market because the country has an active mobile gaming audience that made it a good fit for early feedback.

  • US drama Bridgerton is Netflix’s most popular show globally

    US drama Bridgerton is Netflix’s most popular show globally

    Mumbai: Eight-part romantic drama ‘Bridgerton’ has trumped all shows to emerge as the most popular shows on Netflix, said co-chief executive Ted Sarandos on Monday, as he gave a sneak-peek into the streaming platform’s most popular shows.

    “We’re trying to be more transparent with talent, and with the market. Netflix’s streaming data, is a big black box, mostly,” said Saranodos while addressing the Vox Media’s Code Conference held on Monday.

    The top executive shared two slides. The first slide showed the most popular shows based on its proprietary metric of the number of accounts that selected a given title in the first month of release and streamed for at least two minutes. The second slide showed total time spent viewing (hours) within the initial 28-day of release- reported Variety.

    The first season of the US drama ‘Bridgerton’ topped both the charts, and was closely followed by first season of ‘Lupin’, ‘The Witcher’, ‘Sex/Life’, and ‘Stranger Things-3’. Spanish drama ‘Money Heist -4’ featured at sixth position, followed by ‘Tiger King’ and ‘The Queen’s Gambit’. The movies’ list was dominated by ‘Extraction’ and ‘Bird Box’.

    In terms of rankings for overall time-spent viewing in the first 28 days of release, ‘Bridgerton’ and ‘Money Heist-4’ again lead the charts. Sarandos also said that the recently released Korean horror series ‘Squid Game’ could become Netflix’s biggest non-English title so far.

    Sarandos also dismissed news of the streaming platform looking to buy a movie theater chain. Netflix owns a theater in New York, and one in Los Angeles, which it bought in 2020, and uses the cinemas to hold movie premieres and to showcase some of its original films.

  • Netflix acquires Roald Dahl Story Company

    Netflix acquires Roald Dahl Story Company

    Mumbai: Netflix has acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC) in what is believed to be one of its largest deals recently.

    The acquisition builds on the partnership the two companies started three years ago to create a slate of animated TG series, including a series based on the world of  “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” from the Academy Award-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi and Academy Award nominee Phil Johnston.

    Additionally, Netflix is also working with Sony and Working Title on an adaptation of “Matilda The Musical.”

    “These projects opened our eyes to a much more ambitious venture – the creation of a unique universe across animated and live-action films and TV, publishing, games, immersive experiences, live theatre, consumer products and more,” said Netflix co-chief executive officer and chief content officer Ted Sarandos and RDSC managing director and Roald Dahl’s grandson Luke Kelly.

    “As we bring these timeless tales to more audiences in new formats, we are committed to maintaining their unique spirit and their universal themes of surprise and kindness, while also sprinkling some fresh magic into the mix,” they added.

    Roald Dahl’s books have been translated into 63 languages and sold more than 300 million copies worldwide, with characters like Matilda, The BFG, Fantastic Mr Fox, Willy Wonka, and The Twits delighting generations of children and adults.

  • I&B minister Anurag Thakur meets Netflix chief Reed Hastings

    I&B minister Anurag Thakur meets Netflix chief Reed Hastings

    Mumbai: Minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur met with Netflix co-founder and chief executive officer Reed Hastings for a discussion on Tuesday. Thakur presented Hastings with a copy of the holy book Bhagvad Gita during the meeting. 

    The minister shared photos of the meeting via his personal handle on Twitter.

    “Good discussion with Mr Reed Hastings (Co-Founder & CEO Netflix),” said Thakur in a tweet. “Today consumers of content are traveling the world through stories; India offers a variety of opportunities and ideas – in multiple languages,” he wrote.

    Hastings recently announced that Netflix would invest more in India after already pumping Rs 3000 crore in the past two years. In an interview with Business Today, the Netflix chief had said that India is one of its “top priorities” and that the streaming company will continue its commitment to the Indian market by simply “investing more” in content.

    In February, the government framed the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 that introduced a grievance redressal mechanism for news publishers, OTT platforms and digital media and a Code of Ethics that prescribe the guidelines to be followed by OTT platforms and online news and digital media entities.

  • Netflix’s India ambitions surpass Rs 3000 crore investment

    Netflix’s India ambitions surpass Rs 3000 crore investment

    Mumbai: Global streaming platform Netflix will pump more money into producing content in India, said chief executive officer Reed Hastings. The key executive of the streaming giant was speaking to Business Today’s global business editor Udayan Mukherjee in an interview.

    The company has already pumped in Rs 3,000 crore in the past two years to develop original programming, particularly focused on local content, and more investments are in the offing. “India as a market is witnessing explosive growth in video content viewership over the past couple of years – partially propelled by people having to stay home because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Hastings said.

    The competition in India’s OTT arena is heating up with HBO Max service expected to hit the subcontinent early next year. Hastings sees the competition differently, saying that services such as YouTube and TikTok are the platform’s biggest competitors. But instead of focusing on the competition, he chooses to focus on the next big show that everyone could be talking about.

    “Netflix has emerged as one of the prime contenders for the consumer’s wallet. Over the past five years, the brand has established instant recall in the minds of the Indian consumer,” he said. “What’s great about the Indian market is that Hotstar started so early and pioneered streaming in India. It has really increased the market size, and then Reliance Jio transformed it with regard to access and cost, democratised it. So, they created the base for the market which is today one of our top global priorities.”

    According to a report by Media Partners Asia, the Indian OTT industry is expected to spend $ one billion on content out of which 45 per cent will be local and original content. Reports estimate that the OTT platform has more than five million Indian subscribers. 

    Hastings admitted that Netflix’s journey in India has been harder than was initially anticipated, but he revealed the company’s determination to overcome those challenges through its continued commitment to the Indian market and simply by investing more. He also highlighted that Netflix, which has strong premium imagery in the consumer’s mind, is also focused on providing greater affordability to Indian subscribers.

    The interview will be aired on 17 September at 10:30 p.m on Business Today Show with Udayan Mukherjee.

  • Local language content drives higher audience engagement: Netflix’ Patrick Fleming

    Local language content drives higher audience engagement: Netflix’ Patrick Fleming

    Mumbai: Southeast Asia users consume two times more Netflix content than the global average, and India leads the charts, said Netflix, director of product innovation, Patrick Fleming at the ongoing virtual APOS summit on media, telecoms, and entertainment.

    The streaming giant currently has over 209 million paid subscribers globally out of which 27 million subscribers are from APAC markets. While that is a fraction of the total user base, it should be noted that two-third of its paid subscriber growth was driven by the APAC market in 2020. “We know that a substantial part of future subscriber growth is going to come from outside of the US,” said Fleming.

    Talking about the mobile-only plan, Fleming said, it has not been a success in all markets. The plan was first launched in India followed by Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand, followed by markets across Asia and Africa. “We introduced the mobile plan in markets only after experimenting with the right entry price and discerning the demand for video content on mobile,” he added.

    Fleming said, “It is important for Netflix to speak more languages to cater to the APAC market. We now offer our content along with subs and dubs across 30 languages, so that a great show may travel anywhere in the world. For example, Thailand prefers dubbed content while South Korea prefers subs.”

    While a show like “Money Heist”, “Bridgerton” and “Emily in Paris” has done well in markets like India and Southeast Asia, local language content consistently outperforms in terms of audience engagement, he observed. In India, that means local language films and, in South Korea and Japan that means K-dramas and anime. Launching more payment modes has also increased adoption. Netflix recently enabled autopay via unified payments interface (UPI) in India and GoPay in Indonesia.

    The streaming giant has introduced a slew of nifty features that individually may seem like marginal improvements but are incredibly important to a mobile customer. The ideas first came in India and were then tested globally, noted Fleming.

    These features include a native brightness, playback speed and lock screen functionality. Currently, the OTT giant is experimenting with a function that plays a short vertical video clip when the user hovers above a title. “The idea is to capture the shorter moments of consumption on mobile devices. The user may not sample the content immediately but may put it in his watch list for later consumption,” said Fleming.

    Not just mobile, Netflix can be streamed across 1700 devices and Android and iOS operating systems (OS). Coding efficiency is vital when it comes to mobile customer experience. It was important that the Netflix mobile app was always in a ‘ready to watch’ mode, emphasised Fleming. Features like ‘smart downloads’ and ‘downloads for you’ were introduced to minimize memory usage and ensure that customers transitioned to the next piece of content seamlessly.

    Netflix has also partnered with over thousand local internet service providers (ISPs) to join their open connect network so that it may deliver a high-quality video viewing experience. It has purpose-built boxes called open connect appliances that have been deployed at interconnection locations to localise substantial amounts of traffic by ISPs.

    “Technology has come a long way in ten years,” said Fleming. “A decade ago you could transmit 1.5 hours of content with 1 Gb of data, in 2015 you could transmit 2.5 hours of content or an entire movie in 1 Gb, today you can transmit 6.5 hours of content or the entire first season of “Stranger Things” in the same amount. The same quality, fewer bits.”

    In terms of product innovation, Fleming is bullish about interactivity and branching narratives. “Audiences have loved our interactive content like “Puss in Book” and “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch”. We’re working on an interactive mindfulness series with Headspace and there is the expansion into gaming” noted Fleming.

    Netflix has launched two mobile games based on the “Stranger Things” franchise in Poland.

    “Mobile audiences are wonderfully impatient,” remarked Fleming when speaking about the need to deliver top notch customer experience on mobile. “We’re not just competing with other long form content platforms but any platform that offers a unique mobile experience.”

  • BBC, Netflix to co-produce shows from disabled creatives

    BBC, Netflix to co-produce shows from disabled creatives

    Mumbai: Netflix and the BBC have entered a partnership to develop and fund new, ambitious dramas featuring disabled creatives both in front of and behind the camera. 

    Building on the existing commitments of both the BBC and Netflix, the five-year partnership has been designed to increase the representation of disabled talent both on-screen and off-screen, to widen the range of stories produced and give disabled writers and creatives greater choice when it comes to the sort of stories they wish to tell.

    The partnership will consider projects from the UK producers that have been created or co-created by writers who identify as deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent. All projects are to be created or co-created by such writers. Pitches can draw imaginatively on any genre, precinct or world.

    “We are looking for ideas which feel ambitious and elevated and which challenge the limits that the industry might unconsciously put on disability. The intention of the partnership is to firmly place the shows alongside our most talked about and original dramas already being developed,” announced the post on Netflix Newsroom.

    All projects will be assessed and developed jointly, but the BBC will be the point of entry for submissions and pitches for the initiative. The BBC and Netflix will issue a creative brief and outline of the process which will be made available to all producers, alongside a webinar.

    “Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent creators are some of the least well-represented groups on television in the UK.  Put simply, we want to change that fact,” added Netflix VP – series, UK, Anne Mensah.  “Together with the BBC, we hope to help these creators to tell the biggest and boldest stories and speak to the broadest possible British and Global audience. It’s been hugely exciting to develop this project with Piers Wenger and the BBC Drama team and we are incredibly passionate about the creative possibilities of this partnership.”

    Speaking on the association, BBC director of drama, Piers Wenger said, “Jack’s powerful, memorable MacTaggart has shone a revealing light onto the extent of the challenges faced by disabled creatives. We recognise the need for change and we hope that in coming together the BBC and Netflix have created a funding model which will help level the playing field for deaf, disabled and neurodivergent creators in the UK.”

  • Lucinda Martinez joins Netflix as VP, multicultural marketing

    Lucinda Martinez joins Netflix as VP, multicultural marketing

    Mumbai: Netflix has brought on board veteran marketing executive Lucinda Martinez as vice president of multicultural marketing. She is set to take on her new role later this month and will report to Netflix CMO Bozoma Saint John, reported Variety.

    In this newly created position, Martinez will build a multicultural marketing team and lead Netflix’s targeted marketing efforts to the Latino, Black, Asian, LBGTQ, and faith audiences.

    She is a strategic marketing and management professional with a strong record of contributions in sales, marketing, new business development, new product launches, promotions, and brand management, for both business-to-business and direct-to-consumer products & services.

    Martinez previously served as executive vice president of HBO and HBO Max brand marketing for more than 20 years. She was responsible for developing a distinct, resonant and inclusive brand narrative for HBO and HBO Max. She also led the expansion of talent development and emerging artist programs across all WarnerMedia brands.

    “We want our marketing to be just as entertaining and inclusive as our films and shows, and want to ignite conversations about our brand worldwide,” said Bozoma Saint John, as mentioned by Variety. “Lucinda is a leader in the space and under her direction, we will continue to sharpen the inclusion lens in our marketing and engage our audiences in authentic and culturally relevant ways.”

    “When I received the call from Netflix with the opportunity of building from the ground up a global multicultural marketing team, it was a pivotal moment that I could not resist,” said Martinez about her new role. “I look forward to amplifying Netflix’s authentic storytelling and continue to elevate and celebrate diverse audiences worldwide.”

  • Netflix inks multi-year partnership with Excel Entertainment

    Netflix inks multi-year partnership with Excel Entertainment

    Mumbai: Netflix on Wednesday announced a strategic multi-year partnership with Excel Entertainment, the production company behind Bollywood blockbusters like “Dil Chahta Hai”, “Rock On”, “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”, “Lakshya”, “Toofaan” and the “Don” franchise. This creative pact dovetails Netflix’s diverse series slate in India, it said.

    As one of the pioneers in on-demand long-form storytelling, Excel Entertainment will produce a variety of stories under its series banner Excel Media & Entertainment for Netflix members in over 190 countries commencing with two projects tentatively titled “Dabba Cartel” and “Queen of the Hill”.

    Dabba Cartel is a story of five housewives who run a high-stakes secret cartel. Set in the backdrop of jazz-rich 1960s Mumbai, Queen of the Hill chronicles the dynamic relationship between two ambitious women that will change the city forever.

    Commenting on the partnership, Netflix India, vice-president- content, Monika Shergill said, “We are excited to join hands with Excel Entertainment, one of India’s path-breaking creative studios. They have continuously pushed the boundaries of entertainment and given us stories that have stood the test of time.”

    “Our partnership with Netflix marks a new global chapter for Excel Entertainment after 20 eventful years in storytelling. We are excited with the opportunity to create a variety of extraordinary stories to entertain people in India and around the world. We are thrilled to begin this next chapter with Netflix,” stated Excel Entertainment producers Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar.