Netflix's investment in India remains a 'speculative' opportunity: Reed Hastings

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings revealed the first-quarter earnings of the streaming giant. Reed also talked about India being a ‘speculative’ investment and pricing experiments. The OTT giant co-founder stated that India remains a tremendous opportunity even though the platform did not reach its target of the first quarter of 2021.

'Netflix India is a tremendous opportunity'

As reported by Business Insider, Reed Hastings revealed that Netflix has added less than 4 million new customers globally. Reportedly, the analysts estimated 6 million new paid memberships. However, Reed Hastings stated that India remains a speculative investment and that the company is still figuring things out.

The media portal further reported that Reed Hastings feels that investment takes some guts and forward-looking belief. Reportedly, Hastings compared India’s growth chapter to the success the company has seen in countries like Korea and Japan. In the above countries, Netflix has doubled down on original content.

About India, Hastings said that Netflix is still mostly focused on getting a content fit and getting broader content. Hastings further said that for the same reason, he feels that investment in India is a more speculative investment than Korea or Japan. He however revealed that 5 years ago, Korea and Japan too were speculative investments but now they have gotten off and are over that hump, reports suggest.

The media portal reports that Netflix had earlier announced its plans to release 41 new original productions this year in India alone. Moreover, Theodore A. Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix said that in India, the wait is worth it. Reports suggest that Theodore said that like all great opportunities it is a long journey and it is a challenge.

Reportedly, Theodore says that it is why they are investing early and trying to stay ahead of it. Moreover, he thinks Netflix will be able to see those kinds of results that they have seen in other parts of the world, reports suggest. The media portal has suggested that Netflix has built partnerships with Jio and its digital platform.

Netflix plans

• Currently, Netflix subscription plans in India start at Rs 699 per month. Netflix also has a mobile plan for the Indian audience for which they provide subscription at Rs 199.

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