Video-streaming service Netflix is planning to launch in the Middle East next year.
"We've already stated that our ambition is to be global by the end of 2016, and obviously that includes this region," the company's vice president of EMEA communications, Joris Evers, told The National while in Dubai for the city's film festival.
“We can’t give an exact date as yet, but certainly by the end of the year, Netflix will be operating in the region.”
Evers was keen to “manage expectations” concerning the launch, which has been rumoured and hotly anticipated by movie and TV fans for some time.
“There can be a tendency to expect too much when we launch in a new market,” he says. “It’s difficult to explain the intricacies of licensing regulations to everyone, but people have to bear in mind that when we’re new in a market, we can’t necessarily bring them everything they want.
"So, for example in this region OSN have the exclusive first-run deal with Warner Brothers, and they'll continue to screen their films as long as they hold those rights. On the other hand, our deal with Marvel, for example, is global, so comics fans will be pleased to know they'll be able to watch all the new seasons of shows such as Jessica Jones [and Daredevil] with us first."
Netflix’s is the new kid on the block when it comes to producing its own content, but has built an impressive reputation for quality in a short space of time — and is increasing the volume of its output.
"When we went into production with our first show, House of Cards, it was a gamble," he says. "But it's definitely a gamble that paid off, and we're pushing on with that.
"Next year we'll be doubling the number of shows we produce, to more than 30, as well as the films we have in production [including the Brad Pitt movie War Machine, which was partly shot in Abu Dhabi last month]."
Evers added that Netflix would be broadening the range of content it produces to appeal to the widest possible range of viewers.
Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos told the UBS conference in New York on December 7 that the company has 10 feature films, 30 children’s series, about a dozen feature documentaries, 10 stand-up comedy specials and two documentary series in various stages of production — and that locally produced content in the region was a “high possibility”.
One issue that has plagued broadcasters in the region over the years is piracy. Broadcasters, led by OSN, launched the Do the Right Thing campaign this year to attempt to persuade viewers to use legitimate means to watch their favourite shows.
Evers hopes that the local launch of Netflix will help with this.
“We think that by having high-quality content, and a high-quality stream, we can show people that it’s simply easier to watch their favourite shows and movies than it is to go through the process of finding illegal versions, waiting for them to download overnight, finding the quality isn’t great,” he says.
“If you look at the example of Australia, when we launched there earlier this year, figures showed that traffic through services like Bit Torrent fell by something like 27 per cent overnight.
“I think one way to beat pirates is by having all the best content easily accessible in high quality in one place — and another is to simply be the easiest option.”
artslife@thenational.ae
