As per media reports, Netflix has decided to spend a total of 1.9 billion USD for local content in the Asia Pacific countries. The group revenue from the region has increased to 12 percent this year. It is great news as there will be more unique and original stories told with hefty budgets and there will be more opportunities for massive stories to be told.
Reports suggest that South Korea is the biggest market for Netflix and the platform confirmed spending of half a billion of US Dollar for the country’s local content. There are chances that this decision was made due to some political reasons as the streaming platform is constantly facing some issues in Korea.
The growth of the platform in Japan and South Korea is unbelievable and it is more dependent on per user revenues whereas in countries like India and Indonesia it profits mostly from material gain and other contributions. Netflix does not have a huge subscriber base in India but it is a growing one.
Japan is the second biggest market for Netflix as the platform is not present in China. Amazon Prime Video leads the streaming industry in Japan but Netflix is doing its best to continuously grow the user base. The anime originals and non anime shows will be contributing to the factor. One fourth of the total APAC revenue for 2023 is therefore spent on the market in Japan.
India, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines all these countries together will share a total of 20 percent of the total revenue and in spite of being less than that of countries like Japan or Korea, it is higher than the last year’s revenue. The platform will focus on the subscriber and ARPU growth of Netflix for 2023 and the budget will be used to create more original content and tell stories that will compel subscribers to stick to the platform.
Reportedly, the local content investment of the platform will be a total of 47 percent of the total revenue which actually translates to 1.9 US Dollars. These will be distributed to Korea, Japan and then to India and so on.
India and Indonesia will stay as the fastest growing markets for the platform and their low -ARPU subscriber growth is a strong point in the favor of the statement. Indian originals are making the platform work for locals and it is building relatability and thus growing the user base.