com Inc. are pulling away from the production and distribution model of old, in which Hollywood shipped its movies and TV shows abroad, with the content dubbed or subtitled for the local market. Now, with a direct line to consumers through global streaming platforms, these companies are investing billions of dollars to make culturally specific, local-language content to woo subscribers.
The number of streaming subscriptions world-wide exceeded 1.1 billion last year, up from fewer than 400 million subscriptions in 2016, according to the Motion Picture Association. The growth was driven by Netflix’s overseas expansion, Disney’s launch of its Disney+ service and a pandemic that kept many people at home.Photo:Netflix’s quarterly results this week showed the importance of the overseas business.
About half of the new content Netflix is developing are productions based outside the U.S., with roughly 38% non-English-language content as of mid-March, according to media measurement company Ampere Analysis. In South Korea, Netflix recently announced it would invest $500 million there in local-language content.
As for Disney, Ampere said, 24% of the new content in development is based overseas. Only 3% of Disney+ content originated outside the U.S. as of mid-March, Ampere said. Disney is in 59 countries andDisney said during its investor day in December that it would be spending up to $9 billion a year on content for Disney+ by 2024, which would include 50 international projects. Then, in February, it announced a slate of 10 European projects for countries including France, Italy and Germany.
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