by Cory Barker
Conclusion: Balancing the Global and the Local
Netflix has shown enough flexibility to adapt to the challenges it found in the Mexican and Latin American markets. The business model has continued mostly the same, with some provisions regarding billing. It has kept prices low and allowed for a flexible use of the accounts that fosters sharing among family and friends. These shifts in practice have provided Netflix with extensive data on viewing habits and preferences. The impact of Netflix on the Mexican media environment is already visible. It has changed cycles of distribution for American films and television series, and has broken the hegemony of local firms in content delivery, especially in pay TV systems—at least, to a point. At a broader level, Netflix is the global newcomer that whets the appetite of the local media and telecom giants for the business of digital delivery. Exclusive and original content, including local production in Spanish, seems to be Netflix’s best bet to continue growing. A localization strategy offering content that enhances “cultural proximity” has already made it a direct competitor to the Mexican media producers; it could also work to increase its brand recognition and popularize itself among the new broadband users that will be added in the next years in the country and the region.
The underlying theme that arises from the analysis of all the factors surrounding Netflix’s presence in Mexico is the articulation of the local, the regional, and the global in the novel framework of digital distribution. What Netflix is doing in the country, at all levels, from the adaptation of the business model to the production of content, is a sophisticated process of localization. However, in this particular case many of the adaptations in content have to work as well for the entire Spanish speaking geolinguistic region of the Americas (including the United States). Netflix is using Mexico as one of its platforms to reach the entire geolinguistic region, building on the traditional position of the country as a media exporter. In this sense, the production for Club de Cuervos seems to be a strategy with a regional vision that uses talent and themes close to all the peoples of Hispanic Latin America.
Netflix in Mexico is a good case study of a global firm that enters into a new market, gets in touch with its culture, and is changed by the process. Today, it has taken the double role of powerful commissioner supporting local talent and savvy selector of content with regional taste. It is early to say, but from a cultural point of view, Latin America could have worked as a laboratory where Netflix could test diverse strategies of localization in preparation for the entry into other markets with very distinctive cultures and strong local producers (e.g., France, Spain, and Italy). Additionally, while trying to localize for Mexico and Latin America, Netflix has discovered that by creating compelling high-quality stories with local flavor it can attract audiences around the world, and even in its own domestic market—a strategy important for its future growth.70
The global/local dynamic is revealed through another issue. Funnily enough, if one were to guess the nationality of Claro Video only on the base of content, it would likely be considered global, while Netflix’s feed feels more “Mexican” (or at least Latin American) because it strives for a balance of global and local that make it more culturally proximate, and, hence, more engaging. The most global SVOD firm has made local culture its ally, while the locals bet on Hollywood and international fare.
On one hand, services like Netflix allow Mexican viewers to watch on-demand content that were simply unavailable before, like recent British miniseries, Brazilian films, Spanish series, and Colombian telenovelas. With its global expansion, the variety of content provided by Netflix is expected to expand ever further. This is a major shift in accessibility, which threatens the traditional players on two fronts. First, it erodes their gatekeeping function, for it modifies the release times for new titles, and, second, it could bring changes in the taste of audiences, creating new requirements for local productions in the future. On the other hand, all of the SVOD providers rely heavily on mainstream Hollywood to sustain their services, granting local audiences an unprecedented access to American content in a way that, unlike piracy, is safe, cheap, legal, and easy to use. Consequently, this could strengthen the already marked preference for American fare.71 This complex scenario arises from the contact of local and global forces in the new sector of digital distribution. Indeed, Netflix’s arrival in Mexico has already affected the larger cultural dynamics regarding the consumption of film and television content within the country. As distribution continues to take hold around the world, case studies like Latin America likely demonstrate the blueprint for how Netflix will grow into an even more dominant cultural and industrial force.
NOTES
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