The popular TV streaming services, NETFLIX have tripled its services to 130 other countries in a step it as labelled as international growth. The announcement was made by the company Co-founder and chief executive, Reed Hastings at CES 2016.
According to Hastings:
Today you are witnessing the birth of a new global Internet TV network,With this launch, consumers around the world -- from Singapore to St. Petersburg, from San Francisco to Sao Paulo -- will be able to enjoy TV shows and movies simultaneously -- no more waiting. With the help of the Internet, we are putting power in consumers’ hands to watch whenever, wherever and on whatever device.
The service also launched new languages to the one it previously supported. The new added labguages includes, Arabic, Traditional/Simplified Chinese and Korean to the previously supported languages it supported.
Netflix is not currently available in China, Crimea, North Korea and Syria due to U.S. government restrictions on American companies. The service is also available on personal computers, tablets, smartphones, Smart TVs and game consoles.
Will Netflix Survive In Africa?
It is a good news and good development that Netflix is available to African countries, most especially Nigeria. But Netflix should not expect Nigerians to rush into the service as they do when shopping in a US or UK mall. Nigerians will need to find an alternative for a service before they would decide to use a service online, and while fans await Netflix in the past, Nigerians have decided to create their own Netflix with website like IrokoTV and IBAKATV.
Iroko TV and the rest has been accepted by both Nigerians and abroad and it is from the look of things that this companies are doing great and according to the owner of Irokotv, most subscribers of Irokotv are from US and UK, and they have never come down their chart when they had started four years ago, getting subscribers off Netflix back in the US and UK.
In his recent blog post about his new competitor, this is what the internet streaming giant has to say:
What iROKO is, and has largely always been known for, is the home of Nollywood. Home and abroad. The strange thing about the mourners of iROKO is they always mention how most of our subscribers are in the West. Yup US and UK represent ~55% of our subscription base. And it’s grown (not break-neck) but steadily over the last few years, in Netflix’s back yard. Folk in the US and UK ( the top 2 Netflix markets) have been happy to pay YoY for the little service we provide. Building subscription business’ are hard. Heck we are only 4 years old. So why people think we will suddenly die now they are in Nigeria is totally beyond me. I remember when Deezer came to Nigeria (and Africa). I have been a subscriber there for almost 3 years. I use it, without fail, daily. But when they released their IPO documents, Africa wasn’t even mentioned. It represented nothing. And thats 3mb mp3 files. Not 300mb movie files which require a continuous connection for streaming. But Netflix is in Africa!
Will Netflix Survive In Asia, Use Case Study:Vietnam?
The recent news by Netflix coming to Vietnam has been a welcome news in the expat community here in Vietnam as they have been sharing the news within their Facebook and passing the message to other fans of Netflix.
But does it mean a survival for Netflix? This will depend in coming months, because unlike Africa, Asia have seems to establish themselves in the Internet streaming business. There are a lot of mobile apps and website in different countries like China and Vietnam that gives HD content to users, and users not wanting to see HD can view normal content for free and such apps are available on three of five people devices before now, and the apps are in Vietnamese which means they will stick to what they can use instead of paying a US company, moreover a lot of websites are available with ease of payments, and a lot of others are free too, making money via advertisement.
The only attraction would be watching TV series, but most Vietnamese people will stand up till late to see Korean or Indian TV series than see most US TV series, unless Netflix is ready to do a Vietnamese voice over on US TV series
.
If reason for expansion includes profit, then Netflix has a long way to go both in Africa, Nigeria and Asia, Vietnam. But 18 years old company, am sure they know why they expanded.
Anyway, it is a good move, and the expat community is happy with the addition to Vietnam, and they don't need to use VPN any longer to see their series, not to talk of "Netflix and chill"