Netflix Plunges Into Southeast Asian Originals To Attract Region’s Subscribers

The Ghost Bride based on the eponymous best-selling novel about a 19th-century supernatural tale set in colonial Malacca and The Stranded, a Thai drama about students stranded after a tsunami, are currently in production. It is believed to break new ground for Netflix as the platform looks to tap into the talent and content on offer in a market that boasts a combined population of an estimated 650 million people.

Speaking to trade publication Hollywood Reporter, Erika North, Netflix’s director of international original programming, “There’s a huge concentration of film talent in Southeast Asia. From a Netflix perspective, we really think about content in a holistic way. We’re really thinking about the way we can engage with producers and content creators across the spectrum, from licensing through to originals. For us, it’s about finding the best way to access content and to procure that content for the widest possible audience.”

These two series will be joined by two other Chinese-language original series from Taiwan — Nowhere Man and Triad Princess— as Netflix continues to expand its work with Asian filmmakers. The productions will be available simultaneously in all of Netflix’s 190 markets with subtitles or in dubbed versions, according to North. No definitive date has been set for their rollout.

“Over the last year and a half we have been identifying some of the great programming that exists in these markets on the TV and film side, and bringing that to a greater audience,” North said. “We’re really excited about where we’re going. For filmmakers, hopefully what we offer is going to be a bit of a game-changer.”

The move is apt as Netflix prepares to battles for market share in Asia’s fast-emerging streaming market, as the likes of Disney, NBCUniversal and Warner Media, are all prepared to launch their own platforms over the next year.

ASN’s stories relating to one of Netflix’s local competitors in SEA, iflix, including their own push for Originals in the region

While Netflix’s Q219 results revealed a 26% rise in global revenue to US$4.9b, quarterly subscriber growth only hit 2.7m, far less than the 5m it had forecast. Today, Netflix has over 151m paid subscribers globally but only 8.5m have come from the Asia Pacific region, according to figures from Q418. Southeast Asia had accounted for 11%(~935k) of Netflix’s APAC subscribers and this will have likely surpassed the 1m+ mark in Q119, thanks to key partnerships since with telcos and broadband providers across the region, according to research agency Media Partners Asia.

With Netflix set to lose two of its biggest draws – Friends and The Office – to WarnerMedia’s HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s planned platform respectively, it becomes increasingly important for the streamer to increase its slate of exclusive original content from Asia, including Southeast Asia, to attract new audiences in the region.