Netflix: The Most Global Industry (In The Americas)

Articles in this blog post:

“Netflix Expands to Latin America Countries”

“Netflix to Stream Films and TV Abroad”

“Netflix Launches in Canada”

Question: Which company in your industry is most global? What has been the key to their success in other countries?

Article Summary:

Starting on September 5 this year, Netflix began selling subscriptions to their online video streaming service in various nations in Latin America, starting with Brazil and expanding to 43 nations in Latin America, including Mexico, Argentina, and islands in the Caribbean. This service, which costs about $9 a month, only includes unlimited streaming and offers popular shows and movies in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

This venture into the global market is not the first time Netflix left the United States in order to attract more customers. Last year in September Netflix made their first foreign venture by setting up their unlimited streaming service for use in Canada, though they did not invest in letting Canadians order unlimited DVDs by mail, which was included in all US Netflix subscriptions. For the most part this venture has paid off, as Netflix announced recently that it had gotten one million Canadian subscribers in less than a year since the company expanded there. However, there have been no further announcements of whether Netflix wants to make streaming available in any further countries.

My Analysis:

The interesting trend in the field of media distribution is that, while several companies are faring well in the United States even with the recession, little progress has been made towards creating a multinational corporation. In England, which is very similar to the US in regards to language, wealth, and hobbies, popular companies like Comcast and DirecTV are unheard of, despite being giants in the industry here. As such, Netflix’s transition into countries outside the United States is welcome – while it still is limited to the Americas, it shows a significant effort to increase their viewer base, make more money, and give people in those countries a greater consumer surplus.

Netflix has been hailed several times for being innovative in the industry and growing at a substantial rate. With the transition of going from being in one country to two to almost 50 in the course of a couple years, and the good report of one million customers when being in Canada for only a year, Netflix is once again showing its potential as a major contender in the form of media distribution. The key to this success is that they have a product relatively easy to produce – after all, most movies and shows already exist on Netflix, not many changes are needed to show them in another country – and incredibly easy method of distribution compared to tangible goods since everything is online. While the change from being in the Americas to overseas would require a big investment, I feel that Netflix has the potential to become a truly global corporation on par with the likes of McDonalds for being able to efficiently produce a relatively cheap but valued good.