A panel of top Netflix executives touted 10 years of the global streamer in such key European territories as France, Germany and Italy on Tuesday.
At Content London, vp of content EMEA Larry Tanz, vp of content France Pauline Dauvin and vp of content Italy Tinny Andreatta spoke during a fireside discussion celebrating big milestones for Netflix, with the 10-year anniversary this year in France and Germany and more dates to mark in 2025 in Italy and Spain.
During the session, Tanz shared that between 2020 and 2023, Netflix invested €6.5 billion ($6.8 billion) in European, non-English series and films, including some of the service’s most popular series and films, such as Society of the Snow (Spain), Troll (Norway), Borgen (Denmark), Under Paris (France), High Water (Poland), and The Hand Of God (Italy).
“That’s great for our members from films and series they get, but also for the industry,” Tanz said. “That has resulted in 60,000 jobs just in Europe.”
The three reflected on a decade of commitment to content for EMEA audiences. Andreatta confirmed that the Italian period show The Law According to Lidia Poët will return for season three, starring Matilda De Angelis. She also shared details on the six-part show The Leopard, the ambitious series based on the beloved Italian novel set against the backdrop of revolution in 1860s Sicily. It will star Kim Rossi Stuart, Benedetta Porcaroli, Deva Cassel, Saul Nanni, Paolo Calabresi, Francesco Colella, Astrid Meloni and Greta Esposito.
Davin said there will be a new, three-part special series bringing together the talent of the rap reality show Nouvelle Ecole competition for a reunion. The series offers viewers a chance to catch up with their favorite contestants, following the participants one to two years after the competition, seeing how their lives and careers have evolved after the show, and how their participation in Rhythm and Flow: France has influenced their musical journeys.
Tanz took a moment to touch on the upcoming second season of global hit Squid Game, talking about a fan event on Paris’ Champs-Elysees: “It was taken over by a massive twin game doll and hundreds of people in tracksuits playing ‘Red Light, Green Light’… hundreds of thousands of fans watched them [on a live stream] on YouTube. It’s really cool to see the fan passion.”
Once again, the message was localizing your storytelling. The three assured the audience that this has proved the best strategy with Netflix’s global viewers. “We’re seeing that our local-oriented conditioning approach is working for our members and for our business, and so we continue that,” Tanz added. “I think the biggest challenge is we want healthy competition for many reasons, one of which is we need to develop the next generation of storytellers.”
He continued, citing the streamer’s training programs: “The things that we’re really looking ahead on is, how do we develop and even upskill storytellers, writers, directors, producers, but also above-localized talent? And so we invested a lot of time into training programs all around the world.” The company facilitated over 100 workshops committed to this aim just this year.
