Netflix EMEA Boss: “Healthy Competition” Is Our Biggest Challenge

A healthy ecosystem and healthy competition is the biggest challenge for Netflix EMEA, according to chief Larry Tanz.

Tanz threw the gauntlet down to competitors by urging: “We need all of us to develop the next generation of storytellers and want to get ahead on how we develop and upskill storytellers, writers, directors, producers and below the line talent.” He implied that Netflix is ahead of the game in this area, pointing to training programs the streamer has run across the world and an upcoming one at the Red Sea International Film Festival.

“We have been pretty consistent in terms of our investment and growth,” he went on to say at Content London. “We are seeing that our locally-oriented commissioning approach is working for our members and business. We want a healthy ecosystem and healthy competition – that is our biggest challenge.”

He was speaking after a year in which Netflix has spent big outside of the U.S., with the likes of Black Doves, Italy’s The Leopard and the hotly-anticipated second season of Squid Game incoming.

Tanz was on hand to unveil stats about Netflix’s contribution to the European landscape between 2020 and 2023.

During that three-year period, he said Netflix invested €6.5B ($6.8B) in European series and films, creating more than 60,000 European jobs. He flagged bit hitters like Society of the Show, Borgen, High Water and The Hand of God. For context, Disney has said it will spend $5B on European TV shows and movies over the next five years.

Netflix’s grand international showcase took place a couple weeks ago with a number of new titles announced along with trailers. Today, Netflix Europe said Italy’s The Law According to Lidia Poët starring Matilda De Angelis will return for Season 3. Meanwhile in France, a reunion show following the talent from the Nouvelle École (Rhythm + Flow)competition has been greenlit.

Content London was also shown a clip of Lupin star Omar Sy in upcoming romcom French Lover, along with The Leopard.

At the LA event a couple of weeks ago, which was attended by Netflix chiefs in APAC and Latin America, Tanz said “it was really exciting to hear how far we’ve come from 10 years ago.” “The common theme from a programing perspective is that local storytelling with real authenticity is working,” he added.

‘Squid Game’ Hits Champs-Élysées

Tanz also spoke about Netflix’s marketing might internationally.

The American exec was in Paris over the weekend at a Squid Game launch during which the Champs-Élysées was taken over by an enormous doll along with hundreds of people in tracksuits playing the main game from the show, ‘Red Light Green Light’. “It’s really cool to see the fans’ passion and how talent and members experience it,” he said. “The Squid Game event was run by France’s marcomms team so we definitely get behind things either ahead of launch or when they start to take off.”

With Netflix greenlighting more and more documentaries, some of which have been criticized for being too close editorially to their subjects, Tanz said the team makes sure not to commission “puff pieces because the audience sees through that, but we gain trust [of our subjects].”

He flagged the Tour de France: Unchained series, which he said started with nervous subjects that was “so authentic” before “other teams opened up and were less guarded” in Season 2. “They were saying, ‘I see what you’re all about, I trust you’,” he added.

Tanz was speaking alongside Netflix Italy and France commissioning chiefs Tinny Andreatta and Pauline Dauvin.