US video-on-demand (VOD) provider Netflix wants to develop original series in Germany in future.
“We will certainly also produce in Germany,” CEO Reed Hastings told German news magazine Der Spiegel.
Netflix will launch in Germany in September 2014. After the kick-off, the company will commence analysing data: “We forecast for each piece of content exactly how often it will be consumed,” said Hastings. “Because if we predict this well, we know how much we want to pay for it.”
It doesn’t initially play a role which market position the company will achieve in Germany, said Hastings. “Even if we reach the third or fifth rank, it will be ok.”
Representatives of the company have been on the move in Germany and talking to rights dealers for months, aiming to compile an attractive package for the German service.
The target would be a line-up reflecting “the specific taste and culture” of each country Netflix expands into, said chief content officer Ted Sarandos. For the German launch, the company has, for example, bought locally produced comedy series Stromberg, a number of movies with German actor Til Schweiger and traditional children’s series Die Sendung mit der Maus.
