Page 85 - Bloomberg Businessweek July 2018

◼ BUSINESS Bloomberg Businessweek July 2, 2018

2018 and plans as many as 17 projects next year. and costs the equivalent of a couple of dollars a ● Netflix streaming
In July, Netflix will release its first drama series, month. “Netflix is at the other end of the spectrum subscriptions
Sacred Games, an adaptation of Vikram Chandra’s in India,” says Mihir Shah, an analyst with Media ◼ U.S.
novel about the criminal underworld. Bollywood Partners Asia Ltd. “It’s the most premium subscrip- ◼ International
stars Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui play a tion service.” At its current price, Netflix will appeal 1 20m
cop and a crime boss whose lives intersect. The show only to the 10 million or 15 million people who now
was filmed in Mumbai and is primarily in Hindi, a pay for high-end TV service and have broadband
condition Chandra set. Another U.S. TV network at home, Shah says. Others will watch YouTube on
had been lined up for production, but the author their phone or subscribe to one of many rival ser- 6 0
was uncomfortable with Mumbai gangsters speaking vices that cost less, such as Amazon Prime Video or
English. Netflix obliged, convinced the show would 21st Century Fox Inc.’s Hotstar.
resonate with locals, as well as the approximately Netflix says it has no plans to adjust its price in
50 million people of Indian origin living elsewhere. India, but some subscribers could get lower rates 0
“We’re becoming a global distribution platform for if their local pay-TV and phone operators strike 3Q ’11 1Q ’18
Indian content,” says Erik Barmack, head for inter- deals with the streaming service, as T-Mobile USA
national original series at Netflix. “The one thing Inc. does for some wireless customers in the U.S.
we’ve seen that we want to steer away from is the Netflix has discussed partnerships with Bharti Airtel ▼ Sacred Games, a
idea of global TV being a French cop and an Italian Ltd. and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., two of India’s crime drama, is Netflix’s
first original series
cop and having them speak English.” largest telecommunications companies, and has in India
Barmack’s fast-growing division aims to release
a new show in a foreign language every day next
year, Netflix said at a recent town hall for agents.
He spends every day scouring talent factories from
Madrid to Mexico City for film makers eager to tell a
story different from the routine tales of their home
country. The Mumbai film community is “as big if 17
17
not bigger of a world than Hollywood in terms of
size and talent,” he says.
Barmack’s search led to a meeting with
Vikramaditya Motwane of Phantom Films, a produc-
tion company founded by four colleagues tired of
Bollywood —the Mumbai-centered Hindi film indus-
try that produces almost 2,000 movies a year, more
than anywhere else in the world. Part opera, part cir-
cus, and part rock concert, Bollywood movies hew announced a deal with Vodafone Group Plc’s India
to a formula of music, dancing, and romance. unit to bundle a free year of Netflix with certain
Since childhood, Motwane was more drawn mobile plans.
to the drug abusers, hit men, and serial killers of Netflix executives are also anticipating they can
Western cinema and to directors such as Danny overcome the not-invented-here challenge. Netflix ● Fixed broadband
Boyle, Quentin Tarantino, and David Fincher. He has released original series in English, Spanish, subscriptions in India
found a kindred spirit and filmmaking partner in Portuguese, Tagalog, and Danish so far this year, 20m
writer and director Anurag Kashyap, who was raised with shows in Japanese on the way. Management
on the noir novels of James M. Cain. says many of their international series, including
India’s studios didn’t share their enthusiasm for the Brazilian 3% and the German Dark, have been
gritty, violent fare—qualities that often run afoul of global hits. “It’s too simple-minded to think, Well, 1 0
censors. The pair’s crime thriller, Paanch, has never Bollywood is huge, so they mostly watch Indian con-
been released, because the Indian censorship board tent in India, ” says Todd Yellin, Netflix’s vice pres-
objects to its language, the use of marijuana, and ident for product. “We got Americans to watch a
the depiction of masturbation. Netflix executives Brazilian show and German show in numbers that 0
were drawn to the edginess, however. Kashyap and are unprecedented. It gives me confidence we can 2001 2016
Motwane directed every episode of Sacred Games. get Indians excited to watch great stories from all the
In addition to more-challenging stories, Netflix other countries.” �Lucas Shaw
will also give subscribers on the subcontinent
another challenge: higher prices. Pay TV in India THE BOTTOM LINE Netflix’s growth is topping out in the U.S., but
investors are betting it can expand in international markets such as
consists mostly of low-brow soap operas and sports India, where broadband is booming.