Netflix is looking for authentic stories from different countries as hit programming no longer has to come from Hollywood alone, Larry Tanz, vp, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) content at the global streaming giant, said Monday.
“Great stories really can come from anywhere,” the director shared at an event for reporters and Netflix partners and stakeholders at the streamer’s European headquarters in Amsterdam. Until a few years ago, “to have something… successful creators felt like it had to be in English and go to Hollywood and sell it there,” Tanz said. The widespread thought was that “that was the only way,” he continued. “Everything has changed in the last five years where you can film a series in Spain and have it made in Spain with our team in Madrid. And it is a global phenomenon. And that’s true in some of our countries, and it’s incredible.”
So today people don’t have to fly to Los Angeles to pitch a movie or series and make it in English, but they can tell a story in their local language like No news from the Western Fronthe concluded.
Doing that authentically is key, he emphasized. “Authentic means a story like The Empress”, also explained Tanz, the hit drama from Netflix in Germany and Austria. The main goal is to appeal to a local audience who can enjoy the authentic telling of local stories, which can then also appeal to viewers elsewhere.
Do people in different European countries or regions usually watch one genre? Tanz said that’s not the case. For example, fans of French hit series She-wolf also check out genres like comedies, dramas, thrillers, and others. As another example, he also mentioned that the old stereotype that audiences in Scandinavia only like Scandinavian noir is clearly not true. “Our members watch an average of six different genres each month,” he said.
After highlighting that Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is now the largest region for Netflix in terms of subscribers, the executive was asked what his team’s next focus was. “We have a lot to do to satisfy our members and bring a lot of fun in terms of bringing great movies and series,” said Tanz.
In 2019, Netflix announced the move to the larger Amsterdam office from May 2020 after unveiling new rooms in Berlin, Paris and London. The company, which closed 2022 with 230.75 million subscribers, is expanding its presence and production activities in several international markets.
EMEA quietly became the streamer’s largest region in terms of subscribers in 2022, overtaking the US and Canada’s combined user figure of 74.3 million by 76.7 million. Last year’s revenue was $9.75 billion, with an average revenue per user (ARPU) of $10.99, compared to $15.86 for the US and Canada.
In early 2021, Ampere Analysis said that by 2020, Netflix had become Europe’s second largest TV company in terms of European revenue. It then accounted for 6.1 percent of total European TV revenue, only behind Comcast’s 12.0 percent. By 2022, Comcast will account for 10.3 percent of all European TV revenues from subscription streaming, pay TV, public TV and TV advertising, the company has said THRwhile Netflix had grown to 7.7 percent before including online video advertising revenue, which the streamer was just beginning to take in.
While 70 percent of Netflix, approximately 12,800 full-time employees as of December 31, 2022, were based in the US and Canada, EMEA was second with 2,000 or 16 percent, according to the company’s annual report.
Netflix also revealed two new Dutch comedy titles on Monday, the film The Dadchelor by Jon Karthaus and Daan van den Nouweland and Bad Boas by Jandino Asporaat, who also plays the leading role in the film. The Dadchelor tells the story of “very responsible Mark, who is about to become a father and goes on a seemingly innocent Dadchelor weekend, which spirals out of control and even puts his friends’ lives on the line.”
Bad Boas is a film in collaboration with Asporaat, one of the most popular comedians in the Netherlands who also plays the lead role of Ramon, “a well-meaning but barely effective BOA (extraordinary investigating officers who help the police in monitoring local order and security), it is told that he has a terminal illness,” said a summary of the plot.