Netflix NFLX has been increasingly investing in the production and distribution of localized, foreign-language content aimed at wooing international audiences. In the recently-reported third-quarter 2019, the company added 6.26 million paid international members, up 23.5% year over year.
The company is working on projects across Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, France, Turkey and the entire Middle East to drive international subscriber growth. It also has a strong slate of shows for India and recently rolled out a low-priced mobile plan in the country to attract more subscribers.
Moreover, the streaming giant is equally focused on expanding its Korean and Japanese content. Recently, the streaming giant inked partnerships with two leading Korean content houses — JTBC Content Hub and CJ ENM.
Additionally, the company is collaborating with the Academy Award-nominated animation studio, Tonko House, to launch ONI, an all-new original series based on Japanese folklore.
Netflix, Inc. Price and Consensus
Netflix’s Focus on Turkish Entertainment Market
Per a Reuters Report, Netflix serves 1.5 million subscribers in Turkey and reaches more than 10% of the country’s broadband households, making the Turkish market a potentially important and lucrative source of new subscribers as competition intensifies in the U.S. streaming markets.
Since it set foot on the Turkish market in 2016, Netflix has acquired the streaming rights of many Turkish series, including Leyla ile Mecnun, Suskunlar, Karadayi and Ezel. The streaming giant also produced two Turkish Netflix Original series, including Hakan: Muhafiz (The Protector) and Atiye (The Gift).
Notably, Turkey has the cheapest Netflix monthly cost — $3.27 per month.
Recently, Netflix introduced The Gifts’s Season 2, scheduled to be streamed from Dec 27. The series is an eight-part Turkish drama with an archaeology mystery thriller, with the central character, Atiye played by Beren Saat, star of the Turkish adaptation of Revenge.
Per a Statista Report, Netflix is expected to have 606.3 thousand active streaming subscribers in Turkey by 2020.
This September, Netflix also applied for a license to continue operating in Turkey among other local streaming platforms, such as Puhu TV and Blu TV, under the latest online broadcasting rules set by Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, per a New York Times Report.
Netflix is establishing a bigger footprint in Turkey just as the local TV industry is suffering from country’s prolonged currency crisis, though it remains among the world’s top global exporters of TV dramas.
Per a Daily News Report, Turkey has appealed to audience from 146 countries across the world, with more than 150 TV series, second only to the United States in TV series exports.
Turkey is expected to earn $1 billion in TV series exports by 2023, entertaining more than 700 million audiences from Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and the United States.
Can International Content Growth Offset Competition?
Netflix started offering services in Vietnamese, Hungarian and Czech during the third quarter.
Notably, the company has been available in Vietnam since 2016, at $7.8 a month for a basic subscription.
In September, Hau Due Mat Troi (Descendants of the Sun Vietnam) became the first Vietnamese series to be screened on Netflix following the screening of movies like Trung So (Jackpot) and Hai Phuong (Furie).
Moreover, per The Prague Reporter, Netflix has updated additional Czech subtitle and/or dubbing tracks to around 1,000 films currently on its streaming platform.
Additionally, seven new Czech and Slovak titles, including the 2016 true crime drama I, Olga Hepnarová, the 2014 documentary Trabant vs. South America, and the 2017 Slovak drama The Line featured on Netflix, recently, with options for English subtitles.
However, Netflix has been affected by negative headlines related to heightening competition in the streaming space. Notably, Apple AAPL launched its much-anticipated Apple TV+ on Nov 1, followed by Disney’s DIS Disney+. Other notable upcoming services include NBCUniversal’s Peacock and HBO max.
Furthermore, Amazon AMZN has been taking initiatives to fortify presence in the streaming space through its prime video service.
Netflix plans to counter rising competition on the back of robust content portfolio and binge viewing. The streaming giant is estimated to spend $15 billion this year on content compared with $12 billion spent in 2018.
Netflix currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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