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'Netflix Is the Most Intoxicating Portal To Planet Earth' (nytimes.com)
Instead of trying to sell American ideas to a foreign audience, it's aiming to sell international ideas to a global audience. From an op-ed: In 2016, the company expanded to 190 countries, and last year, for the first time, a majority of its subscribers and most of its revenue came from outside the United States. To serve this audience, Netflix now commissions and licenses hundreds of shows meant to echo life in every one of its markets and, in some cases, to blend languages and sensibilities across its markets. In the process, Netflix has discovered something startling: Despite a supposed surge in nationalism across the globe, many people like to watch movies and TV shows from other countries. "What we're learning is that people have very diverse and eclectic tastes, and if you provide them with the world's stories, they will be really adventurous, and they will find something unexpected," Cindy Holland, Netflix's vice president for original content, told me.
The strategy may sound familiar; Hollywood and Silicon Valley have long pursued expansion internationally. But Netflix's strategy is fundamentally different. Instead of trying to sell American ideas to a foreign audience, it's aiming to sell international ideas to a global audience. A list of Netflix's most watched and most culturally significant recent productions looks like a Model United Nations: Besides Ms. Kondo's show, there's the comedian Hannah Gadsby's "Nanette" from Australia; from Britain, "Sex Education" and "You"; "Elite" from Spain; "The Protector" from Turkey; and "Baby" from Italy. I'll admit there's something credulous and naive embedded in my narrative so far. Let me get this straight, you're thinking: A tech company wants to bring the world closer together? As social networks help foster misinformation and populist fervor across the globe, you're right to be skeptical. But there is a crucial difference between Netflix and other tech giants: Netflix makes money from subscriptions, not advertising.
The strategy may sound familiar; Hollywood and Silicon Valley have long pursued expansion internationally. But Netflix's strategy is fundamentally different. Instead of trying to sell American ideas to a foreign audience, it's aiming to sell international ideas to a global audience. A list of Netflix's most watched and most culturally significant recent productions looks like a Model United Nations: Besides Ms. Kondo's show, there's the comedian Hannah Gadsby's "Nanette" from Australia; from Britain, "Sex Education" and "You"; "Elite" from Spain; "The Protector" from Turkey; and "Baby" from Italy. I'll admit there's something credulous and naive embedded in my narrative so far. Let me get this straight, you're thinking: A tech company wants to bring the world closer together? As social networks help foster misinformation and populist fervor across the globe, you're right to be skeptical. But there is a crucial difference between Netflix and other tech giants: Netflix makes money from subscriptions, not advertising.
Someone help me. I can't parse the issue here.
Instead of trying to sell American ideas to a foreign audience, it's aiming to sell international ideas to a global audience.
So what? It's a business strategy, not a social agenda. If it works and that's what people want, bully for them.
Is there a German or Argentinian version of 'Game of Thrones' that would be equally enjoyable but we just don't know about it because it's not broadcast outside of their home countries?
I mean, GoT is a fantastic show but is it equally enjoyed by people in China for example? I'm an avid subscriber of Netflix but I must admit, I skip over any show that isn't made in Britain, Canada, or the US... but maybe it sounds like I'm missing out on some awesome TV
Instead of a rotating cast from 100 famous actors there have been movies with just about anyone in them from all over the world. Something Hollywood should've done long ago but didn't because they think they can't make 300-800 million off no names. I don't think it's a social justice thing. I just think they want grab the international market and just make it better. If you start bringing movies from different areas to others it increases exposure and creates more demand. It also introduces different film making techniques across the globe to people who might not ever see them.
Er, fine, but what's Netflix-y about this?
I watch (English subtitled) Russian versions of Sherlock Holmes stories on Amazon, and there's all sorts of other international stuff on there too.
News flash, for most people what being a "nationalist" means is enjoying and celebrating the uniqueness of your culture. It doesn't mean they want everyone and everything else to be like them - quite the opposite.
Anyone who enjoys travel and visiting people across the world is inherently a nationalist, someone who would not welcome all cultures being ironed out into one boring mass.
So of course people are interested in watching shows that explore other cultures around the world, even if that is secondary to the purpose of the show...
I really like some of the foreign shows Netflix for a unique cultural perspective they bring - my favorite of those is "3%", a show from Brazil that anyone would enjoy. Others like Babylon Berlin are really interesting...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Is there a German or Argentinian version of 'Game of Thrones'
No, but there is a British one on Netflix called "The Crown". However nudity is limited to the occassional ankle, violence is just seemingly polite but extremely biting remarks, weddings are white not red and Hadrian built the wall in the north but once they get to the Brexit era UKIP are will be just like the white-riders that threaten to destroy the kingdom. Try it out - it just might be your cup of tea!
Isn't about "fuck everyone else" - it's more diverse in essence than globalism in basically every way. Nationalism seeks to preserve nations while globalism seeks to stick everyone in a single nation. Lack of appreciation of other cultures is not ingrained in anything but globalism.
Bad news: It is Netflix.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
It is possible for a show to get an International Following even in places it has never been legally licensed.
I watch all the foreign language stuff with subtitles, the 3% actors were generally excellent so I'm sad to hear the dub was so bad. It held up really well even through season two and had a solid ended, so it's worth trying that out and see if you can grow to like the subtitles...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Netflix Canada has what, all of three movies?
Netflix is like a ghost town, with the odd tumbleweed blowing down the main street.
Because no one ever watched movies and TV shows from other countries before Netflix. /sarc
Yes, there have always been some. Maybe moreso here in the UK than in the USA. Often dubbed or completely shredded for international audiences. However, you'd have had to subscribe to several specialist cable channels or install a multi-band satellite dish to get anything like the range of international programs currently offered by Netflix as part of their standard service... and Netflix largely serves them up shoulder-to-shoulder with the US/UK programs rather than filing them by nationality. (Not sure if that's a plus or a minus, however, the godawful navigation and discovery features on Netflix are another topic entirely...)
Not that I've indulged yet, but there are a few subtitled shows on my shortlist...
Meanwhile, I'm hoping that now that Disney has cancelled all the Marvel contracts we'll see less wall-to-wall fucking superhero shows...
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
All titles not in your native language is labelled with an english title and you won't find out it is in some language you never even heard off untill you start playing it, after which Netflix counts it as a click and a success.
The ammount of dissappointment is getting too much.
I half agree. US audiences are famous for hating subtitles. [snip] However, plenty of stuff has made it onto US TV from the earliest days, e.g. Monty Python, Dr. Who, etc.
I really hope that US TV didn't show Python and Dr Who with subtitles... :-) Even their tendency to re-make British shows for the US is probably because they can't conceive of a show being successful if it has less than 100 episodes. (Life on Mars makes me laugh - ISTR the flop US version ran to more episodes before it was cancelled than the jewel-in-the-BBCs-crown original version... although the original probably would have needed US subtitles... "Its teatime - I'm 'avin 'oops!")
But, you kinda miss the point: at least part of the "US viewers are stupid" meme is down to the big US TV networks assuming that viewers were stupid (or maybe just targeting the ones more susceptible to advertising) and not showing anything that might cause excessive cogitation. Once the networks had decided that Joe Sixpack didn't like subtitles they simply wouldn't show anything with subtitles.
On Netflix, you sometimes only find out that a show is in French with English subtitles when you sit down to watch it. They don't decide for you that you don't like foreign TV.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
A good movie or series is a good movie or series, no matter where it's being made.
who would have thought?
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.