Unlocking the Creative Potential of Humanity

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters spoke on Friday about the company’s local language business, stating: “I think about this as unlocking the creative potential of the human race around the planet.”

In a wide-ranging conversation at the Financial Times Business of Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles, Peters said the service is producing content “in 50 countries and 50 languages”.

The executive, who just returned from a trip to South Korea and Japan and will visit five countries in Europe next week as the company celebrates ten years on that continent, said: “We’ve got teams around the world that are deeply embedded in the communities in the countries they operate in. They’re meeting with creators all the time.”

He continued, “Our job is to find the biggest audience that we possibly can. It starts in the country, because if you’re not telling an authentic story that works for that country, you’re not starting from a good place.

“But if you do that quite well,” he said, “then occasionally you get a Squid Game or Money Heist or Lupin – a story that really travels and finds a global audience… [the service can] cause people to watch something in a language or from a country they would never have considered watching a show from… You create opportunities for consumers to see things differently and for behaviours to change.”

The point was made that English-speaking audiences are increasingly watching English-language shows with subtitles. Peters agreed, adding: “Dubs is something we see as changing. A part of the population wants to access stories in dubs. Even in countries we call traditionally subtitle countries, they’re starting to shift those behaviours as well.”

He cited Europe as “an incredible source of growth for us”, adding: “Asia is a place where we’re earlier in that process and presents incredible potential in terms of creators and bringing more consumers onto the service.”

Hollywood disruption

Netflix being arguably the prime disruptor in Hollywood, Peters tried to strike a collegial tone when asked about the huge corrections underway at the legacy studios. “We’re a participant in that ecosystem and we both contribute to and benefit from it and we increasingly contribute to it. These transitions are always difficult. The decline of linear is a difficult thing to figure out.”

He added, “The Hollywood ecosystem is the most amazing assemblage of creative capacity that has ever existed on the planet. It’s hard for me to imagine that doesn’t persist and that great stories, film and television, come from Hollywood for as long as we can imagine. Our job is to make sure we’re participating positively in that.”

Live events and sports

The executive also addressed live entertainment. It has broadcast live stand-up comedy and is dipping its toes into live sports in a big way, with the recent $5bn ten-year deal with WWE to stream a weekly wrestling show starting in January 2025, two NFL American Football games on December 25, and the upcoming Mike Tyson-Jake Paul bout.

Peters said “never say never” when asked if the service planned to step up its year-round live offering of major sports, although he conceded most rights for leading sports are currently locked up in multi-year deals.

“Having Thursday night football and the NBA – we’d love to do that, but in a way that works for the business,” he said. “Those have been challenging deals to do so we want to think creatively about it. We haven’t figured out a way to do that yet.”

On the December 25 American Football games, Peters said, “We look at this as more of an event, where for one day football will be on Netflix and we’ll all be talking about it. We plan to Netflix-ify them, so we’ll have stuff around the games with our talent that will make it fun.”

The move into advertising

The executive also recounted Netflix’s move into advertising in November 2022 – roughly around the time it was formulating a plan to crack down on password sharing.

The advertising tier launched six months after Peters and the leadership team decided to move into it. They built out with an initial team of six that has grown to more than 40. “You can get a lot done with a small number of people if they’re the right people,” he said.

“We’ve had to build the technical components of our advertising offering from scratch. Our competitors have mostly been at this for decades, and we’re racing to catch up. It’s fun to be in that position and to feel that pressure.” Netflix’s advertising business is expected to become a major contributor to the bottom line by 2026.

Speaking about AI, Peters said, “For almost two decades we’ve been using machine learning in our recommendations. We’re excited about what generative AI can do. We’re in that point in the technology adoption cycle where we’ve passed the super hype bump and people realise that going from the demo to using it takes a lot of work.”

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters spoke on Friday about the company’s local language business, stating: “I think about this as unlocking the creative potential of the human race around the planet.”

In a wide-ranging conversation at the Financial Times Business of Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles, Peters said the service is producing content “in 50 countries and 50 languages”.

The executive, who just returned from a trip to South Korea and Japan and will visit five countries in Europe next week as the company celebrates ten years on that continent, said: “We’ve got teams around the world that are deeply embedded in the communities in the countries they operate in. They’re meeting with creators all the time.”

He continued, “Our job is to find the biggest audience that we possibly can. It starts in the country, because if you’re not telling an authentic story that works for that country, you’re not starting from a good place.

“But if you do that quite well,” he said, “then occasionally you get a Squid Game or Money Heist or Lupin – a story that really travels and finds a global audience… [the service can] cause people to watch something in a language or from a country they would never have considered watching a show from… You create opportunities for consumers to see things differently and for behaviours to change.”

The point was made that English-speaking audiences are increasingly watching English-language shows with subtitles. Peters agreed, adding: “Dubs is something we see as changing. A part of the population wants to access stories in dubs. Even in countries we call traditionally subtitle countries, they’re starting to shift those behaviours as well.”

He cited Europe as “an incredible source of growth for us”, adding: “Asia is a place where we’re earlier in that process and presents incredible potential in terms of creators and bringing more consumers onto the service.”

Hollywood disruption

Netflix being arguably the prime disruptor in Hollywood, Peters tried to strike a collegial tone when asked about the huge corrections underway at the legacy studios. “We’re a participant in that ecosystem and we both contribute to and benefit from it and we increasingly contribute to it. These transitions are always difficult. The decline of linear is a difficult thing to figure out.”

He added, “The Hollywood ecosystem is the most amazing assemblage of creative capacity that has ever existed on the planet. It’s hard for me to imagine that doesn’t persist and that great stories, film and television, come from Hollywood for as long as we can imagine. Our job is to make sure we’re participating positively in that.”

Live events and sports

The executive also addressed live entertainment. It has broadcast live stand-up comedy and is dipping its toes into live sports in a big way, with the recent $5bn ten-year deal with WWE to stream a weekly wrestling show starting in January 2025, two NFL American Football games on December 25, and the upcoming Mike Tyson-Jake Paul bout.

Peters said “never say never” when asked if the service planned to step up its year-round live offering of major sports, although he conceded most rights for leading sports are currently locked up in multi-year deals.

“Having Thursday night football and the NBA – we’d love to do that, but in a way that works for the business,” he said. “Those have been challenging deals to do so we want to think creatively about it. We haven’t figured out a way to do that yet.”

On the December 25 American Football games, Peters said, “We look at this as more of an event, where for one day football will be on Netflix and we’ll all be talking about it. We plan to Netflix-ify them, so we’ll have stuff around the games with our talent that will make it fun.”

The move into advertising

The executive also recounted Netflix’s move into advertising in November 2022 – roughly around the time it was formulating a plan to crack down on password sharing.

The advertising tier launched six months after Peters and the leadership team decided to move into it. They built out with an initial team of six that has grown to more than 40. “You can get a lot done with a small number of people if they’re the right people,” he said.

“We’ve had to build the technical components of our advertising offering from scratch. Our competitors have mostly been at this for decades, and we’re racing to catch up. It’s fun to be in that position and to feel that pressure.” Netflix’s advertising business is expected to become a major contributor to the bottom line by 2026.

Speaking about AI, Peters said, “For almost two decades we’ve been using machine learning in our recommendations. We’re excited about what generative AI can do. We’re in that point in the technology adoption cycle where we’ve passed the super hype bump and people realise that going from the demo to using it takes a lot of work.”