Case Title: Netflix: International

Expansion

Student's Name: Zebiao Wu

Student's ID Number: A12722102

Key question: How does Netflix maintain rapid global growth while facing regulatory

challenges, cultural differences, fierce competition and huge financial costs.

Background: Netflix's international expansion is a strategic move to seize global market

opportunities as the U.S. market becomes saturated and growth slows. By 2016, Netflix aims

to become a global force in the streaming industry, aiming to operate in more than 190

countries.

Challenges faced:

Regulatory restrictions and local adaptation:The first is US government restrictions, which

have excluded some countries, such as Syria. Second, regulatory restrictions vary widely

between countries, affecting content availability, service functionality, and even market access.

Netflix's ability to adapt to these regulations is critical. Likewise, localization involves not only

translating content into local languages (which is difficult to accomplish in India) but also

curating and producing content that resonates with local traditions and values.

Competition and Market:In many new markets, Netflix faces stiff competition from local

pay-TV operators and video-on-demand services that have established customer bases and

content libraries. For example, in the Indian market, India already has four major service

providers with large customer bases and content. There is a similar situation in the Japanese

market, where Netflix needs to compete with Hulu Japan and Rakuten Showtime

The huge financial costs :International expansion significantly increases Netflix's costs,

particularly in licensing global content rights and producing original content for different

markets.
Strategic Initiatives and Outlook:

Develop exclusive content: Netflix invests in developing exclusive, original content to

differentiate itself from competitors and reduce dependence on external content providers.

This strategy is designed to attract subscribers with unique offerings that can’t be found

elsewhere, thereby increasing subscriber growth and retention.

Localized content strategy: To address cultural differences and regulatory challenges,

Netflix began adapting its content and marketing strategies to accommodate regional

preferences. Partnerships with local content creators and investment in original productions

within target markets are key to this approach.