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Netflix’s shake-up of its European operations — which saw the Sept. 29 exit of international film vp David Kosse, a new role for Spanish executive Teresa Moneo and a new regionalized hub for all content across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) run by Larry Tanz — points to a broader strategic shift at the streaming giant toward faster-growing international markets to make up for domestic subscriber losses.
In the second quarter of this year, according to figures from U.K.-based data research group Ampere Analysis, Netflix ordered 97 new original first-run TV series or movies from outside the U.S., compared to 63 U.S. commissions over the same period. International commissions at Netflix have outpaced domestic orders for seven straight quarters and show no signs of slowing down. Despite fierce competition from the likes of Disney+ and HBO Max, in international markets Netflix retains a significant first-mover advantage and remains the only streamer to have delivered global breakout non-English-language hits like Spain’s Money Heist or Squid Game from South Korea.
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In his tenure at Netflix, Kosse, a former Universal Pictures and Film4 exec, was instrumental in signing up big-name European talent such as Italy’s Paolo Sorrentino (The Hand of God), German multihyphenate Matthias Schweighöfer (Army of Thieves) and French director Romain Gavras (Athena) to boost Netflix’s European film slate.
What Netflix lacks on the international side, however, is the kind of exclusive access to talent that can guarantee a steady supply of films and series for its global service.
“If we look at an 18-month period starting in Q1 2021, Netflix signed 30+ movie project-inclusive talent deals with creators globally, but only a handful of those were outside the USA,” notes Alice Thorpe, a researcher covering streamers’ movie strategy at Ampere.
While Netflix can point to a number of high-profile exclusive deals — including with Money Heist creator Alex Pina and his Madrid-based Vancouver Media, and with Germany’s Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, creators of mystery thriller Dark and the upcoming 1899 — the bulk of the group’s international output comes from third-party suppliers.
In addition to delivering hit zombie heist hit Army of Thieves for Netflix, Schweighöfer’s outfit Pantaleon Films has also supplied such German-language series as Beat and You Are Wanted for Amazon Prime. Sorrentino’s Oscar-nominated The Hand of God was produced by Fremantle-owned Italian group The Apartment, who also made crime series Bang Bang Baby for Amazon, and We Are Who We Are for HBO Max.
“With more competition internationally from streamers, Netflix will need to work harder to secure its pipeline of new content and one way to do that would be to offer more first-look and overall deals with creators and their production companies,” says Thorpe.
The example of Pina and Vancouver Media show just how productive such exclusive deals can be. In June, Netflix launched a Korean version of the hit Spanish thriller: Money Heist: Korea — Joint Economic Area, and greenlit a prequel series, Berlin, based on the character played by Pedro Alonso in the original. Pina, who extended his exclusive deal with Netflix in March, is also prepping a new high-concept series set in a luxury underground bunker and inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When it comes to international production, Netflix is already well ahead of its rivals. An Ampere report from Aug. 11 notes that, since the start of 2020, Netflix has commissioned more non-U.S. originals than Amazon Prime, Discovery+, Disney+, Paramount+, HBO Max and Peacock combined. Coming off of successive quarterly subscriber drops, doubling down on international production could be the move that allows Netflix both to grow its global audience base and distinguish itself from its studio-backed competitors.
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