From Parochialism to Cosmopolitanism in the American Audiovisual

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This article is part of the larger research project “Geographic Diversity in SVOD platforms in the Americas” coordinated

by the author at Faculty of communication sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México. This part of the

project was conducted during 2019.

Ph.D. in International Communication. University of Texas at Austin; M.A. in Communication. Leicester University

(UK). Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. Member, Level 3, Sistema Nacional de Investigadores del Conacyt

(México). Research Fellow. Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación. Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. E-mail:

jclozanor[email protected]. Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6290-2312.

From Parochialism to Cosmopolitanism in the

American Audiovisual Supply? Netflix’s New Releases

of Television Fiction in the United States and their

Geographical Diversity

José Carlos Lozano**

Recibido: 2021-09-11 • Enviado a pares: 2021-10-04

Aprobado por pares: 2021-11-10 • Aceptado: 2021-11-28

https://doi.org/10.22395/angr.v20n40a9

Abstract

The supply of films and TV series in the United States has been historically dominated by

national programming produced by its powerful media conglomerates, significantly limiting the

diversity and plurality of choices for their American viewers. Netflix and other video-on-demand

platforms are changing this situation, significantly increasing the availability in the United States of

fiction produced in different regions of the world, potentially exposing their subscribers to new

narrative styles, scenarios, ethnicities, nationalities, languages, and cultural features. This study,

based on the methodology of content analysis, analyzes the geographical origin and production

type of new Netflix scripted television releases in the United States from January 2017 to June

2018 and discusses their potential relevance in broadening the degree of geographical diversity

among American subscribers to the platform. The paper concludes that while Netflix USA

substantially increased the supply of foreign television series in its catalog during that period,

a sizeable part of the imports came from countries with high degrees of “cultural proximity” with

the United States. The article concludes by discussing the possible “Americanization” of foreign

audiovisual productions, formats, and genres bought or produced by Netflix.

Keywords: show content; Netflix; SVOD subscription video on demand; media studies; cultural

diversity; cultural nationalism; international circulation of materials.

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¿De oferta parroquiana a cosmopolita en la oferta audiovisual

estadounidense? Estrenos de televisión de ficción en los

Estados Unidos y su diversidad geográfica

Resumen

Históricamente, la oferta de películas y series de televisión en los Estados Unidos ha estado

dominada por la programación nacional producida por sus poderosos conglomerados de medios,

lo que limita significativamente la diversidad y pluralidad de opciones que han tenido los espectadores

estadounidenses. Netflix y otras plataformas de video bajo demanda parecen estar cambiando esta

situación, aumentando significativamente la disponibilidad en los Estados Unidos de ficción producida en

diferentes regiones del mundo, exponiendo potencialmente a sus suscriptores a nuevos estilos

narrativos, escenarios, etnias, nacionalidades, idiomas, y características culturales. El presente

estudio, basado en la metodología del análisis de contenido, revisa el origen geográfico y el tipo

de financiamiento de los estrenos televisivos de ficción de Netflix Estados Unidos de enero de 2017 a

junio de 2018, con el propósito de discutir el grado en que la plataforma ha incrementado la disponibilidad

de contenidos extranjeros en Estados Unidos y las implicaciones de lo anterior en el enriquecimiento de

la diversidad vertical en el consumo de sus suscriptores. El documento concluye que, si bien Netflix

ha aumentado sustancialmente la oferta de series foráneas en su servicio estadounidense, una parte

considerable de las importaciones proviene de países con altos grados de “proximidad cultural”.

El artículo concluye discutiendo la posible “americanización” de producciones, formatos y géneros

audiovisuales extranjeros comprados o producidos por Netflix.

Palabras clave: contenido de programa; video bajo demanda; flujos audiovisuales; diversidad cultural;

nacionalismo cultural; circulación internacional de materiales.

Da oferta paroquial à cosmopolita na oferta audiovisual

americana? Estreias de televisão ficcionais nos Estados Unidos

e sua diversidade geográfica

Resumo

Historicamente, a oferta de filmes e séries de TV nos Estados Unidos tem sido dominada pela

programação nacional produzida por seus poderosos conglomerados de mídia, limitando

significativamente a diversidade e pluralidade de opções que os espectadores americanos têm. A

Netflix e outras plataformas de vídeo sob demanda parecem estar mudando essa situação,

aumentando significativamente a disponibilidade nos EUA de ficção produzida em diferentes regiões

do mundo, potencialmente expondo seus assinantes a novos estilos narrativos, cenários, etnias,

nacionalidades, idiomas e características culturais. O presente estudo, com base na metodologia de

análise de conteúdo, analisa a origem geográfica e o tipo de financiamento das estreias mensais

da Netflix nos Estados Unidos de janeiro de 2017 a junho de 2018, a fim de discutir o grau em que

a plataforma aumentou a disponibilidade de conteúdo estrangeiro nos EUA e as implicações do acima

exposto no enriquecimento da diversidade vertical no consumo de seus assinantes. O documento

conclui que, embora a Netflix tenha aumentado substancialmente a oferta de séries estrangeiras

em seu serviço nos EUA, um número considerável das importações vêm de países com alto grau

de “proximidade cultural”. Discussão. O artigo conclui discutindo a possível “americanização” de

produções, formatos e gêneros audiovisuais estrangeiros comprados ou produzidos pela Netflix.

Palavras-chave: conteúdo do programa; Netflix, vídeo Sob demanda; streams audiovisuais; diversidade

cultural; nacionalismo cultural; circulação internacional de materiais.

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Introduction

Historically, the offer of foreign programming in the US audiovisual market has been

extremely restricted. Except for a few programs imported from Canada and the United

Kingdom, American mainstream television networks have tended to exclusively sche

dule locally produced productions. The reasons for this historical trend are many but

those of an economic and cultural nature stand out.

On the economic side, the main explanation for the lack of audiovisual imports

in the North American context is the power of the giant American television net

works and film studios (Croteau & Hoynes, 2001; Gitlin, 1985; Gomery, 1992). These

conglomerates, capable of exporting high volumes of films and television programs

since the beginning of cinema and later of television (Maltby & Stokes, 2004) were

able to saturate American television networks and stations as well as cinema venues

with their domestic products, hardly leaving any slots for foreign content. Fu’s (2010)

assertion that the larger and more mature an internal audiovisual market the smaller

the number of imports of films and television programs seems adequate for the US

case. With a market value of 720 billion dollars expected by 2020, the entertainment

sector in the United States is undoubtedly one of the largest and most lucrative in

the world (Statista, 2019a).

On the cultural side, it could be argued that any foreign production coming from

non-English-speaking countries to the United States suffers a significant cultural dis

count (Hoskins et al., 1989), given the differences in language, narrative structures, and

values (pp. 66). The hypothesis of cultural proximity developed by Straubhaar (1991) that

television audiences in any country will prefer their domestic audiovisual productions

(if available) over regional and foreign ones for reasons of cultural proximity, is fulfi-

lled in the case of the United States and could constitute an additional reason for the

historical shortage of television and film imports.

Netflix and other video-on-demand platforms, however, seem to be significantly

increasing the availability in the US of fiction produced in different regions of the world,

potentially exposing their subscribers to new narrative styles, scenarios, ethnicities,

nationalities, languages, and cultural features. As Aguiar & Waldfogel (2018) have poin

ted out, with the development and growth of these digital platforms “it is possible that

consumers, even internationally, would get access to a much wider variety of foreign

fare” (pp. 420). This study looks at the geographical origin and production type of new

Netflix scripted television releases in the United States from January 2017 to June 2018

and the potential for the ones coming from other countries to broaden the degree

of geographical diversity among American subscribers to the platform. By discussing

whether the imported content was financed and produced directly by Netflix or not,

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the paper also explores the possibility of this platform influencing local production

values and formats making them more appealing to American audiences.

The paper first provides an overview of the different video-on-demand (VOD) plat

forms available in the United States and of the growth of Subscription-based VOD like

Netflix. Next, the paper discusses the concept of diversity in the literature on public

policies for audiovisual media and the usefulness of including both the geographical

origin of audiovisual productions and the genre and program-type as sources of di

versity. The results section provides an analysis of the 18 months of new TV scripted

releases (January 2018-June 2019) according to their geographical origin and type of

financing or licensing.

Video on Demand Platforms

Due to reasons like the ones discussed above, the average American public lacked syste-

matic access to television programs and films from other countries for decades, except

for some limited content produced in Canada or the United Kingdom broadcasted on

paid television channels or public television (PBS). This situation improved somewhat

with the boom of cable and satellite television during the 1980s and 1990s when

paid-TV companies started to include foreign channels in their original language (with

very little dubbing or subtitles provided). These channels helped linguistic minorities in

the US to have access to their country-of-origin’s programming but did little to expand

access to international audiovisual content among mainstream American audiences.

The growth and popularity of the internet, however, have facilitated the deve

lopment of digital services for the distribution of audiovisual content that directly

brings television programs and movies to consumers, skipping traditional media (open

television, cable, and satellite channels) that previously had control over them. The-

se services, referred to in English as “over-the-top” (precisely because they bypass

the traditional suppliers), have also led to the proliferation of platforms that offer

Video-On-Demand (VOD) in three modalities: 1) Video-On-Demand with advertising

sponsorship, such as Youtube; 2) Transactional VOD (sale or rental of programs or

movies) such as iTunes; and 3) VOD based on subscriptions, such as the Netflix and

Amazon Prime cases (Doyle, 2016, pp. 631). The different business models of the later

SVOD services, and more precisely, Netflix’s particular business model and multi

national expansion (including its systematic dubbing and subtitling of non-English

contents), seem to have significantly increased the availability of foreign productions

for the average American viewer.

The Netflix case, without a doubt, is the most relevant among the SVOD modality.

Launched in 1998 as an online movie and TV series rental company (thus competing

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with Blockbuster stores), Netflix revolutionized the way of viewing audiovisual content

in 2007 by becoming a platform for digital video on demand, offering access to digital

subscribers to all movies and television shows in its catalog for a fixed monthly subs

cription. In 2010, Netflix started offering its service in Canada. The following year, the

platform expanded to Latin America and the Caribbean, and immediately after too

many other countries and regions in the world (BBC, 2018). In 2013, Netflix launched

its first original production, House of Cards, which would be followed by many more

originals. By 2020 Netflix had around 193 million subscribers worldwide, of which 63

million were from the US (Moody, 2020).

During the first years of Netflix as an SVOD service, the big American television

networks had no problem selling their rights for the transmission of reruns, thus en

riching the catalog of this digital platform. Despite the exponential growth of Netflix,

media conglomerates took a long time to fully enter the VOD market and it was not

until 2019 that some of the main companies decided to launch their platforms: ABC

and NBC Universal, as well as telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Apple,

launched their new VOD platforms at the end of 2019 or early 2020 (Lynch, 2019). An

exception was Hulu, launched in 2008 by ABC, Fox, NBC/Comcast in strategic alliance

and based on playing popular television series from the big networks a day or a week

later from their original release. By 2018, Hulu had reached 25 million subscribers in

the United States (Prang, 2019). With its purchase of 21st Century Fox in 2019, ABC

ended up controlling 66 % of Hulu’s shares, making it part of its two-pronged strategy

to compete in the SVOD market, after the launch at the end of 2019 of the new ABC

VOD platform Disney + (Press, 2020).

Another of the main VOD platforms in the United States is Prime Video, ow

ned by the powerful online shopping company Amazon. This service started in

the United States in 2006 as Amazon Unbox. At the end of 2013, the platform began offe-

ring original programs such as Alpha House and Betas and in 2015 it released the first

original production of a VOD platform that won an award at the Golden Globe Awards:

Transparent. Although Amazon refuses to disclose information about the number of

subscribers of its Prime service, Reuter calculated for 2017 about 26 million within the

United States (Jarvey, 2018) while the Observer suggested it had around 150 million

global subscribers by 2020 (Katz, 2020). The main difference between most of these

VOD platforms with Netflix, however, is the fact that they “use video in the service of

another, more primary revenue stream” while Netflix is a “pure-play” video service

(Lotz & Lobato, 2019).

In addition to the previously mentioned VOD services, the American audiovisual

market has many more options, either through apps or through new streaming servi

ces of the big channels or television networks. HBO Max is one of the most popular,

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with approximately 67 million in the United States and a similar amount in the rest

of the world (Statista, 2019b). Other chains such as CBS, CW, Fox, TNT, etc., also offer

their original programs through apps, increasing the volume of content available on-

demand. Peacock, a new service by Comcast Universal launched in July 2020 had by

September of that year around 15 million subscribers (Nunan, 2020). Unlike Netflix

and Prime Video, however, all, or almost all, of these platforms, apps, and chains’ ca

talogs consist of their own or national productions, with very little content originating

outside the US.

Diversity in audiovisual content

In the literature on public policies for the media, one of the most discussed and

sought-after principles is to ensure that the press, radio, television, film, and new

digital media are plural and promote diversity in their different manifestations (van

Cuilenburg, 2007). For pluralists, liberal scholars’ diversity understood as heterogeneity

in media content is a fundamental requirement to ensure the competition of ideas

and proposals from which the social consensus necessary for the proper functioning

of democratic systems emanates. For critical political economists, on the other hand,

diversity in media ownership and content is the antidote to the concentration of

power and ideological dominance (Becerra & Mastrini, 2007; Trejo Delarbre, 2010).

For cultural studies, diversity in media content is necessary to promote a greater number

of alternative meanings able to confront and counterbalance the preferred ones, and

to give voice to groups and proposals that would otherwise be marginalized from the

social debate (Lembo & Tucker, 1990).

Public policy proposals on media diversity have tended to focus on issues

of ownership and media control, assuming that the greater the number and diversity of

owners and organizations, the greater the plurality and diversity of content (Napoli,

1999, p. 10). The diversity in the supply of available media content, in contrast, has

received much less attention, although some references and mentions of its impor

tance can be found in the literature. Becerra and Mastrini (2007), for example, have

argued that the way to guarantee pluralism in a social system should not be confined

to non-oligopolistic property structures but should also strive for a “multiplicity of

contents in the media” (pp. 18-19).

For Napoli (1999), the diversity of content depends on the range of different types

of programs, genres, and formats available at a given time in the television schedule

from which a receiver can choose what he wants to see. For this programmatic diversity

to work properly, Napoli argues, it must respond to “genuine distinctions in audience

preferences and, consequently, to behavioral distinctions in exposure patterns” (p. 18).

In general, different types of people have different television preferences according to

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variables and mediations such as gender, age, social class, education, ethnicity, etc.

A diverse television offer, then, will respond in as balanced terms as possible to the

range of preferences of a multiplicity of audiences and does not focus exclusively on

satisfying that of a few (typically those with greater purchasing power, such as young

adults of the middle and upper classes; Hellman, 2001).

A related problem in the US and Latin American literature on diversity in media

content is that it frequently fails to include as a source of diversity the geographical

origin of audiovisual productions. Normally, the discussions focus on how varied the

genres and formats are as well as the contents within them, but their origin is neglected,

despite the high degree of diversity one could assume may come from the audience’s

exposure to contents coming from different parts of the world. Productions coming

from other countries, arguably, may reflect narrative styles, perspectives, values, and

visions of the world qualitatively different from each other, even if all are based on

certain formulas and genre conventions.

The geographical origin of audiovisual productions, however, has been an in

tegral part of theoretical and empirical studies and reports in the European Union,

where public policies promote the circulation of audiovisual productions among the

different member countries. Van Cuilenburg (2007, p. 24) mentions four dimensions used

in Europe to empirically assess media diversity: 1) Diversity of formats and themes; 2)

Diversity of content; 3) Diversity of people and groups represented in the media

content; and 4) Diversity of contents in terms of geographic coverage and relevance

(local, regional, national, and international content). This last dimension is the one in

vestigated in this paper. A distinction must be made, however, between the diversity

of content and the variety of content. The latter refers to the specific number of pro-

grams and genres available, while diversity focuses on both the number of options

and the qualitative differences in their content (Napoli, 1999). If a police drama pro

duced in Spain is very similar to one produced in the United States in terms of the

representations of race, gender, age, and amount of violence, a variety of geographical

origins may exist, but not authentic diversity. Garcia Leiva & Albornoz (2021) argue that

the degree of diversity of any audiovisual system depends on, among other factors,

whether the productions show “differences of variety, balance, and disparity about

values communicated, identities represented, and aesthetics showed.” They add

that audiovisual contents should reflect the multiplicity of groups that coexist in a gi-

ven society (internal diversity) as well as the cosmogonies and expressions of foreign

cultures (external diversity) (pp. 268).

Program-type diversity scholars, thus, assume that the greater the diversity of gen

res and types of programs, the greater the satisfaction of various types of audience’s

information, entertainment, or education needs and preferences. An additional

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assumption is that the more genres a single user watches, the more enriching his or

her media experience will be. Audiences are a complex and diverse conglomerate

of groups and subgroups with diverse and contrasting characteristics and interests

(Morley, 2006; Straubhaar, 2003) that are impossible to be served by a limited type of

audiovisual productions. In the case of American TV audiences (and now SVOD subscri

bers), having access to foreign audiovisual productions, particularly from non-English

language foreign countries, may significantly increase the diversity of characters, to

pics, representations, and worldviews they have traditionally been exposed to.

Research Questions

Based on the discussion above, this paper set to explore answers to the following

research questions:

RQ1. How diverse was the offer of television fiction series on Netflix USA in terms of

the geographical origin of the productions? Were American productions dominant

over all other international content?

RQ2. What percentage of foreign productions was presented as “Netflix Originals”?

And of this percentage, how many series were produced partially or entirely by Netflix?

Method

Levels of diversity in media content

Within the literature on media content diversity, four levels of study are recognized

(van Cuilenburg, 2007, pp. 21): 1) Individual content units (a TV program, a journalistic

note); 2) Content “packages” (a television channel, a specific news medium); 3) Type

of medium within a given local market (radio stations, television stations, daily news

papers); 4) National media system as a whole (total available media in a country).

The present content analysis, set at the first level of study, defined its unit of

analysis as the television series announced in The Hollywood Reporter to be released by

Netflix in the United States from January 2017 to June 2018. Thus, the type of diver

sity discussed here is the “intra-medium” diversity (McQuail, 1992, pp. 145-147), that

is, how much geographic diversity of fictional television content was offered within

Netflix, without comparing it to the one in other digital platforms in the same cou

ntry. The final interpretation of the findings, however, engages level 4: The degree, if

any, in which Netflix has increased the number of foreign television series available in

the US audiovisual market, historically short on imports from other countries, espe

cially non-English language ones.

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Focus on monthly releases

Previous content analyses on program-type diversity like the one presented here were

based on traditional TV channels’ schedules. This is not relevant for Netflix, a curated

database allowing viewers to watch any content at any time and date (as long as the

platform keeps license rights or ownership of the content for any given market). This

posed a particular methodological challenge for this study, namely, how to select

a representative sample of content useful to “delimit…the likely range of textual

experiences available to audiences through that system” (Lobato, 2018, p. 243). Other

researchers have used scraping tools and comparator websites, Unofficial Netflix Online

Global Search like Allflicks or Netflixable (Lobato, 20, p. 245) to look at the totality of

the Netflix catalog at one point in time. The current study decided to focus exclusively

on the new monthly releases announced in The Hollywood Reporter for Netflix’s US

platform during 2017-2018. While monthly releases are not representative of the whole

catalog available to American viewers at any given time, they are the productions

most likely to be watched in any given period by more subscribers (as evidenced in

analytical streaming services on the web like Flixpatrol.com and What’s-on-Netflix.

com). Also, monthly new releases are representative of the newest types of TV series

(local and international) Netflix adds to its US catalog, as well as the new seasons of

pre-existing shows). Information on the monthly premieres of these television series

during 2017-2018 was obtained from the official website of The Hollywood Reporter (https://

www.hollywoodreporter.com), one of the most respected film and television industry

magazines in that country. Given the emphasis of the study on scripted television series,

film productions, and non-scripted television programs such as documentaries, reality

series, and stand-ups were omitted from the sampling design despite being part of

the premieres within that period. Instead of drawing a sample, this study included as

units of analysis a census of all TV scripted series announced on The Hollywood Reporter

between January 2017 and June 2018 for Netflix’s US platform.

Identification of geographical origin, genre, years of production, and

production companies

To complement the information available on the website of The Hollywood Reporter, the

International Movie Database (IMDb) was used to identify the geographical origin,

the original year of production, and the production companies of each series. This infor-

mation was entered into a database in Excel and subsequently analyzed with SPSS. In

total, 283 television series from a total of 24 different countries, released during the 18

months, were identified. The main coders were Mathew Balderas, Amy Cortina, Marcos

Villanueva, and Cynthia T. Martínez (Texas A&M International University).

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Netflix Originals

Many of the series released on this platform during 2017-2018 carried prominently the

legend “Netflix Original.” Due to Netflix’s lack of transparency, that label may

refer to one of four possibilities: 1) Netflix commissioned and produced the show;

2) Netflix has exclusive international streaming rights to the show; 3) Netflix has

co-produced the show with another network; 4) Netflix financed the continuation of

a previously canceled show (Robinson, 2018). Thus, the label Netflix original does not

necessarily mean these contents have been directly financed and/or produced by

Netflix, nor that they have been purchased definitively (Beer, 2020). On many occasions,

what that denomination means is that the series´ rights have been purchased by Net

flix from independent studios (or TV or film networks) to exhibit them exclusively in a

country or region (Rodríguez, 2019). The “Netflix Original” label, however, is also used

in Netflix’s productions (like Stranger Things or The Irishman), making it difficult to identify

the degree of participation of the platform in its financing or production (Iordache,

2021). To have further information on the specific type of Netflix’s involvement, we used

the IMDb to identify whether there was direct financing or not from the platform in

each of the series included in our analysis. While this information from IMDb may not

be completely reliable and does not come from Netflix itself, it is a good proxy for the

actual involvement of the platform in the financing and production of foreign content,

Results

Diversity in geographical origin

How diverse was the offer of television scripted television shows on Netflix USA from

January 2017 to June 2018 in terms of geographical origin? As discussed in the literature

review, Netflix seems to have increased the availability of foreign television series in

the United States, a historically restricted audiovisual market. The continuous promotion

of the service’s made-outside-the-United-States “original productions” and the long

list of foreign movies and television series in its catalog generates the perception of

Netflix offering a large number of imports.

Table 1 shows that while foreign productions accounted for 38 % of the new

releases of scripted TV shows (new titles and new seasons of existing series) during the

sampled months on Netflix USA, most of them came from English-speaking countries.

In Hoskins et al. (1989) terms, imports from English-speaking countries may reflect a

smaller degree of “cultural discount” than the ones coming from other regions of the

world. If we add the contents originating in the United Kingdom (21 series), Canada

(16), and Australia (9), to the 62 % taken by local US productions (176), it turns out that

almost 80 % of Netflix releases originated in its own country or countries linguistically

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and culturally close to it. Only 2 out of every 10 programs in the supply of new releases,

consequently, came from regions of the world more likely to introduce higher degrees of

diversity into the options available to American audiences due to their significant

cultural and linguistic differences with the United States. These findings coincide

with Iordache’s (2021) analysis of four European Netflix catalogs (Romania, Belgium,

Spain, and Sweden). Not only was “the representation of US content overwhelming”

in the four catalogs, but it was “complemented by additional strong presences from

the English-speaking ‘global North,’ such as UK, Canada, and Australia” (pp. 8). Findings

for Netflix’s Brazilian service also show that content from American and anglophone

countries like the UK, Canada, and Australia overwhelmingly dominated its catalog

over content from other linguistic regions (Penner and Straubhaar, 2020, pp. 138)

Table 1. New scripted series released in Netflix USA by country of origin: January 2017-June 2018

Country f % Country f %

USA 176 62.2 Italy 2 .7

UK 21 7.4 Sweden 2 .7

Japan 17 6.0 Argentina 1 .4

Canada 16 5.7 Belgium 1 .4

Australia 9 3.2 Chile 1 .4

Spain 7 2.5 Denmark 1 .4

France 5 1.8 India 1 .4

Brazil 4 1.4 Israel 1 .4

Mexico 4 1.4 Norway 1 .4

South Korea 4 1.4 Russia 1 .4

Germany 3 1.1 Turkey 1 .4

Colombia 2 .7

Finland 2 .7 Total 283 100 %

Source: own elaboration.

The country with the highest number of monthly releases in the 1.5 years of the

sample, after the United States and the United Kingdom, was Japan (see table 1). Most

of these productions belonged to the category of anime and cartoons (Glitter Force Doki

Doki, The Many Faces of Ito, and The Seven Deadly Sins), although some comedies, dramas,

and thrillers were also included. After Japan, Canada, and Australia, the country with

more productions during the monthly premieres of Netflix USA was Spain, with se

ven fiction series, mostly dramas and crime series such as Cable Girls and Money Heist.

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Releases from Latin America

Despite the potentially high number of Mexican-American subscribers, Netflix USA

released only four series produced in the neighboring country during the months

included in the sample (Club de Cuervos, Ingobernable, Señora Acero, and Legend Quest). The

same happened with the releases from the rest of Latin America. Only Brazil (4 series),

Colombia (1), Argentina (1), and Chile (1) were represented in the scripted TV shows

releases from this year and a half (see table 2). The opening of Netflix’s Mexican office

in 2019 may change this, increasing the production of more series from this country:

the service announced the production of 50 Mexican originals by the end of that year

and its VP Originals for Spain and Mexico Francisco Ramos announced the service would

launch nine Mexican original series (and three movies) during 2020 (Bertran, 2020).

Table 2. Scripted TV series released by Netflix USA by country of origin: January 2017-June 2018

English-speaking countries Latin america/europe Other

Australia (9)

Cleverman: S2

Glitch: S2

Kazoops!: S1

Kazoops!: S2

Offspring: S7

The Letdown

The New Legends of Monkey

Wanted: S1

Wanted: S2

Canada (16)

Anne with an E: S1

Anne with an E: S2

Dark Matter: S3

Degrassi: Next Class: S3

Frontier: S1

Frontier: S2

Inspector Gadget: S3

Kate and Mim-Mim: S2 (2015)

Les beaux malaises: S1-4

Luna Petunia: Return to Amazia: S2

Argentina (1)

Historia de un clan: S1

Brazil (4)

3 % S2

Cupcake & Dino – General Services

Samantha

The Mechanism

Chi le (1)

El Reemplazante: S1-2 (2012)

Colombia (2)

Narcos: S3

Surviving Escobar: Alias JJ: S1

México (4)

Club De Cuervos: S3

Ingobernable: S1

Legend Quest: S1

Senora Acero: S3

Germany (3)

Babylon Berlin

Dark: S1

Dark: S2

South Korea (4)

Grami’s Circus Show: S2

My Only Love Song: S1

One More Time: S1

Stranger: S1/Forest of

Secrets

India (1)

Sacred Games

Israel (1)

Fauda

Japan (17)

Blazing Transfer Students: S1

Devilman Crybaby

Erased

Fate EXTRA Last Encore

Fate/Apocrypha: Part 1

Final Fantasy XIV Dad of

Light: S1

Glitter Force Doki Doki: S1

Glitter Force Doki Doki: S2

Good Morning Call: S2

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English-speaking countries Latin america/europe Other

The Good Witch: S4

The Hollow

Trailer Park Boys: Out of the Park: S1

Trailer Park Boys: S11

True and the Rainbow Kingdom: S1

Wynonna Earp: S1 (2016)

United Kingdom (21)

Bottersnikes & Gumbles: S2

Broadchurch: S3

Call the Midwife: S6

Chewing Gum: S2

Collateral

Free Rein: S2

LEGO: City: S1

Lovesick

Marcella S2

Murder Maps: S3

Requiem

Retribution

Ripper Street: S4

Sherlock

The Crown (S2)

The End of the Fucking World

The Frankenstein Chronicles

The Furchester Hotel: S1-2

The Last Kingdom

The Worst Witch: S2

Troy: Fall of a City

Belgium (1)

Beau Sejour: S1

Denmark (1)

The Rain

Finland (2)

Angry Birds: S2 (2013)

Bordertown: S1

France (5)

A Very Secret Service: S2

Marseille

PJ Masks: S1

10 % (aka Call My Agent!): S2

The Chalet

It aly (1)

Gamorrah: S2

Suburra

Spain (7)

Apaches: S1

Crematorium: S1

Las Chicas del Cable: S1

Mar de Plástico: S1

Money Heist: S2

Mutant Busters: S2

Welcome to the Family

Nor way (1)

Borderlines

Sweden (2)

Bonus Family (Bonusfamiljen): S1

Bonus Family: S2

ID-0: S1 Jimmy: The True

Story of a True Idiot

Little Witch Academia: S1

Mob Psycho 100

Samurai Gourmet: S1

The Many Faces of Ito: S1

The Seven Deadly Sins: S2

Russia (1)

Masha’s Spooky Stories: S1

Turkey (1)

Intersection: S2

Source: own elaboration.

Releases from Europe

Series from Europe (with the British and Spanish exceptions already mentioned) were

equally scarce during 2017-2018. Table 2 shows that five series were from France (Mar

seille, A Very Secret Service, PJ Masks, Ten Percent, The Chalet), and three were from Germany

(Babylon Berlin and Dark, S1 and S2). Very few series were from the rest of Europe: two

from Italy (Gamorrah season 2 and Suburra), two from Finland (Angry Birds and Bordertown

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Season 1), two from Sweden (Bonus Family, seasons 1 and 2), and only one from countries

like Belgium (Beau Sejour), Denmark (The Rain), and Norway (Borderlines). As in the case

of Mexican and Latin American productions financed by Netflix, by 2020 Originals

from Europe seemed to be growing, with German series like Barbarian reaching the five

most-watched series on Netflix for several weeks during the second half of 2020.

In summary, it could be said that during 2017 and 2018 Netflix USA offered a cer

tain degree of geographic diversity to its then 60 million American subscribers. While

there is no breakdown of these subscribers by ethnic group, a survey done in 2017 by

Statista (Watson, 2018) among more than 4,000 respondents in the US found that 21 %

of whites reported using Netflix several times a day, and an additional 11 % once a

day, for a total of 32 %. In the case of African Americans, the equivalent percentage

was 40 %, and in the case of Hispanics 56 %. These three different groups, potentia

lly, could be increasing their vertical geographical exposure diversity (the amount of

series from different countries each viewer tends to watch) in a significant manner via

the new releases from regions outside the US. According to some scholars (Evans et

al.; Limov, 2020) factors like “accessibility (that content is available, discoverable, and

appealing in some way) and cultural affinity (that audiences are no longer turned off

by a foreign language, culture, or subtitling) emerge as audiences become users and

engage with the features of VOD platforms” (Limov, 2020, pp. 6305). Whether viewers

of foreign content in Netflix USA are white or members of ethnic and national mino

rities, or whether US viewers watching foreign productions are already predisposed

to watching them due to previous personal experience in terms of travel abroad, are

questions which have not yet been answered satisfactorily. In a survey of 288 Netflix

USA subscribers who reported having watched foreign series or films on the platform,

Limov found that 72 % of them were White/Caucasian, but that a substantial portion

of all of the survey respondents had been abroad (61 %), lived abroad (16 %), were se

cond-generation (19 %) or third-generation citizens (19 %), suggesting that subscribers

watching foreign contents usually had some sort of previous experience or contact with

other countries.

Number of releases by country or region

Table 3 shows that of the total 283 television series released in our sampled period,

107 were from foreign countries and 176 from the United States. While the number

of foreign productions discussed in this section represents a clear breakthrough

compared to the number of imports available in the United States before Netflix, as

explained above, it was not that geographically diverse. This latter fact, however, may

be changing. A recent report on the “What’s on Netflix” website found that in the US

Netflix’s catalog, 45 % of the 5,806 movies and TV series available in mid-2020 were

foreign-language titles (Moore, 2020). In contrast with our findings (based exclusively

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on recent releases), the general catalog available in the United States in 2020 seemed

to offer a higher proportion of foreign-language content. It seems clear that the

significant differences in the business model of Netflix (subscriber funded, internet-

based) in contrast with traditional US mainstream media (reliant on selling audiences

to advertisers) allow this service to include in its American catalog an unprecedented

number of foreign and foreign-language contents without worrying too much about

ratings and the immediate commercial success of each production in this country.

Table 3. New scripted shows released in Netflix USA by type (Regular or Original):

January 2017-June 2018

Country/Region Regular Presented as Netflix Original Total

Asia

7 15 22

32 % 68 % 100 %

Australia

1 7 8

13 % 87 % 100 %

Canada

4 12 16

25 % 75 % 100 %

Latin America

4 8 12

33 % 67 % 100 %

8 13 21

38 % 62 % 100 %

Western Europe

8 16 24

33 % 67 % 100 %

Other

2 2 4

50 % 50 % 100 %

Total imports

34 73 107

35 % 65 % 100 %

USA 64 112 176

% 36 % 64 % 100 %

Total New Releases 98 185 283

35 % 65 % 100 %

The total number of new releases includes both new titles and new seasons of the existing series.

Source: own elaboration.

Foreign series purchased or financed by Netflix

Despite the increasing number of original productions, Netflix has still been investing

heavily in license agreements to obtain rights to stream American or foreign TV shows

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or movies through its service in some or all of its markets. In late 2019, Netflix spent

$14,7 billion on licensed content versus $9,8 billion in produced content (Beers, 2020).

However, many of the new releases of foreign scripted shows carried the legend of

“Netflix Original,” analyzing this type of content relevant.

How many of the Netflix Originals released in the United States market were non-

US productions? According to Variety, out of around 700 original TV shows available

during 2018 in its catalog worldwide, only 80 were non-English language Originals from

outside the U.S (Spangler, 2018). In our analysis, focused exclusively on new scripted

TV series releases and not on the total catalog, 41 of the 73 foreign series were from

non-anglophone countries (see table 3), perhaps signaling an upward trend in these

imports to the US market. In terms of “counter-flows” from the rest of the world to

the United States, these numbers were not that insignificant, considering that the US

audiovisual market, historically, tended to be highly restricted in terms of imports from

non-English-speaking countries.

Many of the series released on this platform during 2017-2018 carried prominently

the legend “Netflix Original.” Table 3 shows that 65 % of the total series released in the

sampled months were presented as “Netflix Originals.” The magnitude of this percen

tage reflects a strategy to attract subscribers and keep them satisfied with exclusive

content. Netflix has already signed contracts with some producers in other countries,

like “Dark” creators Jante Friese and Baran bo Odar, and “Money Heist” creator Alex

Pina (Schneider, 2018). According to other scholars, however, despite these contracts

and the production of new originals, Netflix seems to still be dependent on licensed

content: As of 2018, 63 % of all viewing hours on Netflix were devoted by subscribers

to watch licensed content (Trainer, 2019). Out of 671 series available on Netflix USA

in 2015, 512 were non-exclusive among US streaming platforms (Aguiar and Waldfo

gel, 2018). For commissions, Netflix “largely relies on contracting other production

companies to make its series and films, requesting exclusive global rights and to hold

those rights in perpetuity or at least a period of 10 to 15 years” (Lotz, 2020, p. 7). Co-

commissions (splitting the rights and the costs of production with another entity) are

another way of getting content without having to produce it in-house. Usually, Net

flix pays more than 50 % of budget costs and gets exclusive distribution rights in all

countries except the partner’s country, at least for the first year or so (p. 7). Out of

the total number of new releases labeled “Netflix Original” in our study, only 13 % were

listed in the IMDb as having been produced exclusively by Netflix; 28 % were listed as

having been co-produced by Netflix with other companies, and 59 % were

licensed productions with streaming rights in the US market without any direct finan-

cing from Netflix, at least as reported by the IMDb.

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This Netflix policy of obtaining licenses for existing productions (acquisitions) or

splitting the costs with other entities (co-commissions) in other countries, if main

tained, could have an important effect on the consolidation and growth of quality

audiovisual works in those nations, indirectly strengthening local and regional audio

visual markets. However, we must not lose sight of potential restrictions coming from

Netflix in the creative control and decision-making on foreign production companies

due to the enormous investments by the digital platform. Given Netflix’s biases for

certain types of genres, formats, and narrative structures, in addition to the need

for acquired productions to be understandable and attractive to all types of audien-

ces in the rest of the world, national companies may be tempted to abandon local or

experimental formats and structures in favor of increasingly standard and generic for

mats that meet Netflix’s expectations and requirements. Thus, the fact that this SVOD

platform pays large sums to the original producers in exchange for the exclusive control

of the reproduction rights over long periods and in multiple territories, could radically

alter the uniqueness in the perspectives, production values , and narrative structures

of foreign series and films, developing increasingly standardized and homogenized

formats with few differences with the rest of the offerings on Netflix. However, em

pirical research based on content analysis is required to prove or disprove the latter.

Americanization of formats and contents?

Netflix could also be exerting an important influence in certain regions of the world

where it has decided to directly finance and produce series and films. By hiring and/or

paying the salaries of directors, producers, screenwriters, actors, technicians, and

local extras directly or indirectly, the platform may be contributing to the growth of

the production capacity in these countries while at the same time taking over the

creative control from the local personnel, “modeling” (Kivikuru, 1988) and/or stan

dardizing the narrative and aesthetic structures as in American series and films. At

least in the discourse of Netflix’s executives and creative talent, the latter seems not

to be the case. According to them, Netflix International Originals are completely com

mitted to respecting and promoting the “authenticity” (a reflection of the local culture

in which a series’ narrative is situated) of the content (Wayne and Sandoval, 2021).

Netflix’s executives and creatives seem to be convinced that for a show to “travel” well

around the world, it first has to resonate in its market and be “authentically local” (p. 7).

According to some scholars (Rios & Scarlata, 2018), this may not mean that

these international productions, due to their local authenticity, may help Netflix to

compete successfully with the national SVOD platforms in regions like Latin America

or Asia. Local SVOD platforms in countries like Australia and Mexico, they point out,

“have been able to capitalize on the global behemoth’s inability to ever become truly

local, even as it has started to develop original slates” in those countries (Rios and

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Scarlata, 2018, p. 485). This assertion, however, refers mostly to the total number of

local productions available in the catalog of a given SVOD platform, and not to the

degree of “authenticity” of specific shows.

While most new releases from Australia, Canada, Japan, and South Korea were

not originally financed by Netflix, around half of the new releases from Latin America,

the United Kingdom, and Western Europe were. It is very likely that, in the case of La

tin America, the high proportion of series financed by Netflix is due to at least three

reasons: a) a commercial strategy to compete in the region with its productions due

to the significant number of Latin American subscribers, and b) the reticence of local

media conglomerates like Televisa in Mexico, Globo in Brazil, Venevision in Venezuela,

and Clarin in Argentina, to sell transmission rights to its powerful and popular SVOD

competitor, and c) the lack of independent production companies in this region due

to the historical monopoly and in-house production tendencies of the Latin American

media conglomerates (Lozano, 2006). In addition to feeding the catalog of its millions

of Latin American subscribers with original productions that have a “local” appeal,

Netflix also incorporates them into its US catalog, satisfying first the preferences of

its significant number of Hispanic subscribers and, secondly, the rest of its viewers.

If production costs abroad keep being significantly lower than in the United

States, especially in regions that are not linguistically and culturally close to this

country, the series financed by this platform will surely continue to grow in the coming

years. Netflix has already opened offices in Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, and Mumbai,

and has production teams in Mumbai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sao Paulo.

Conclusions

As Lotz (2020) has argued, multinational video services like Netflix are not unpre-

cedented but pose new and relevant theoretical questions about how deliberately

multinational streaming services “challenge the nation-based frames of theorizing

audiovisual content and industries” (p. 2). This paper has discussed the degree of

geographical diversity in the new scripted television series releases of Netflix USA from

January 2017 to June 2018 and whether this digital platform meets expectancies about

a significant and permanent increase in the choices available in the American audio-

visual supply.

Traditionally, media flow studies have focused their attention on the presence

and degree of domination of American audiovisual imports in foreign markets (De

Bens & De Smaele, 2001; Fontaine & Grece, 2016; Lozano & Hernández, 2020; Martí

nez, 2005; Nordenstreng & Varis, 1974; Schement, 1984; Varis & Nordenstreng, 1985).

The assumption has been that the more audiovisual flows in one particular country or

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region are dominated by American movies and TV shows, the less diversity in origin

and type of media content the local audiences will get and the more they will be influen-

ced by American values and visions of the world. This study has somewhat reversed

this question while keeping in mind the relevance of program diversity (in particular

geographical diversity) in increasing the knowledge, viewpoints, and respect for natio

nal and cultural differences among the traditionally ethnocentric American audiences.

The fact that 4 out of 10 premieres of fiction television series on Netflix USA came

from other countries undoubtedly represents a significant change in the American

television supply, compared to the meager percentages represented by previous im

ports. More than 60 million American Netflix subscribers have, perhaps for the first

time as media consumers, the possibility of systematically selecting and watching a

wide array of foreign productions. The fact that two out of these four foreign monthly

premieres come from English-speaking countries reduces somewhat the significance of

this high percentage of imports, but the remaining number of imports still represents

a clear improvement. Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada, despite sharing a

common language with the US, maintain certain cultural differences that may con

tribute to a wider spectrum of ideas and meanings in the US supply. If we add to this

English-language imports the remaining new released series produced in Asia, Europe,

and Latin America, Netflix’s contribution to the increase of geographical diversity in

the US audiovisual market becomes even more significant

The presence and popularity of Netflix in most countries of the world, together

with a drastic reduction in the number of rights for US series available to Netflix, will

undoubtedly encourage this platform to intensify the licensing or direct financing

of foreign content. The latter, as argued above, could break the monopoly of large

regional conglomerates such as Televisa, Globo, Venevisión, and Clarín in the case of

Latin America, diversifying and expanding audiovisual production in these countries,

something needed given these companies’ tendency to produce 100 % of their con

tents “in-house” and their disinterest in buying content from independent studios and

companies. However, Netflix’s incursion into international markets could also have

negative effects on these independent companies by restricting the financed television

genres to those favored by the platform and by imposing production criteria, rules,

and standards to make them attractive in other geo-linguistic markets, diminishing

their originality and cultural uniqueness.

It is necessary, also, to problematize the assumption that the geographical origin

of the fiction series necessarily entails diversity in content. Quantitative and qualita

tive content analyses of the series’ ideological meanings and visions of the world are

1 Aguiar and Waldfogel (2018) concluded in their study of theatrical versus Netflix distribution of movies in 56 countries

that Netflix was still favoring US films over any other geographical origin in its new releases, but that the dominance

of this country’s films over films from other countries was smaller in Netflix than in the theatrical supply.

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required in programs of the same genre but different geographical origins, as well as

of the ethnic and socio-demographic composition of their fictional characters accor

ding to their role. Although it seems feasible to expect significant differences between

them, only empirical explorations can determine if the increasing number of imports

will result in a greater diversity of meanings and ideas, rather than only increasing the

variety of productions available according to their origin. The encoding of TV shows’

ideas, concepts, and experiences by actors and producers from other countries, it

could be argued, may very well end up incorporating some degree of diversity in

the content due to cultural differences and production experiences and traditions. As

Castro and Cascajosa (2020) explain in the case of Spanish Netflix Originals (Cable

Girls, Elite, Ministry of Time), productions from this country follow the local storyte

lling norms and “fit well with Spanish viewers’ tastes, shaped for decades by Spanish

broadcasters” (pp. 159).

If conventional studies on the horizontal and vertical diversity available in the

United States are scarce (Napoli, 1999), research on the types of programs available in

the US audiovisual supply by geographical origin is even more limited, with some re-

markable and recent exemptions (Limov, 2020). Future studies should investigate both

through qualitative and quantitative methodologies the vertical exposure diversity of

different types of audiences, given the supply available on the media and platforms

to which they have access. By doing this, we will be able to understand the degree to

which the content diversity available in the audiovisual supply is accompanied by di

versity in its reception and appropriation by specific audience groups. In the case of

Netflix USA, audience studies would determine to what extent the foreign programs

offered by the platform are watched by all types of US subscribers or if most members of

ethnic communities related to the places of origin of such imports tend to watch

them. The scarce empirical studies focused on the consumption of foreign content

among subscribers of the platform in the US difficults the determination of the

degree to which mainstream and minority subscribers watch foreign content. If

future studies on Netflix USA subscribers keep finding that the most likely viewers

of foreign content on the platform are Americans who have already been abroad or

who belong to ethnic or national minorities (Latinos watching series produced in Latin

America, Asian-Americans watching series produced in Asia, etc.), the optimism ge

nerated by the substantial increase in geographic diversity in the supply of television

series in the US market would have to be considerably reduced.

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