Published: November 19, 2024 — That was Bela Bajaria’s, Netflix Chief Content Officer, message at the company’s first International Showcase on Monday.

Joined by Minyoung Kim (Vice President of Content, APAC), Paco Ramos (Vice President of Content, LATAM), Monika Shergill (Vice President of Content, India) and Larry Tanz (Vice President of Content, EMEA), the executives underscored Netflix’s commitment to commissioning local language programming and building deep partnerships with over 1,000 producers from more than 50 countries outside the US.

While debuting footage from some of Netflix’s upcoming non-English language titles, Ramos shared that they are all focused on “creating stories that make audiences press play and stay. A show or a movie they love so much they can’t wait to finish it and recommend it to their friends.”

Programming highlights included never-before-seen clips from series One Hundred Years of Solitude (Colombia), The Leopard (Italy), Last Samurai Standing (Japan), The Empress S2 (Germany), El Refugio Atómico (Spain), Senna (Brazil), Alice in Borderland S3 (Japan), and films Revelations (Korea) and Revelations (Korea)

At the event the creative executives explained why they commissioned these titles and how they reflect their local cultures. Diego Avalos, VP of Content for Spain, remarked that “we’ve always focused on letting Spanish idiosyncrasy be reflected in our stories. We are producing in every region of Spain, which is a bit like if you made a TV show in all 50 states in the US.” Tinny Andreatta, VP of Content for Italy, spoke about how The Leopard “was the first project that I really wanted to produce because of its scope and ambition. The Leopard captures an iconic moment in Italian history.”

“People like the authenticity of local stories,” Bajaria explained and reinforced that there’s no such thing as making a global show. “When you try to make something that appeals to everyone, you just end up making something that appeals to no one.” It’s why Bajaria encourages her teams to be ambitious and support the vision of creators with the “goal to make shows and films that resonate in their home country first.”

The quality of Netflix’s non-English language programming is one of the reasons that these shows and films are growing in popularity. But it’s also because of Netflix’s best in class recommendations, subtitles and dubbing that make it possible for people around the world to discover titles from countries other than their own. In fact, Kim shared that “over 80% of Netflix members around the world watch K-content.”

And it’s not just K-content. “Today more than 70% of all viewing on Netflix is either with subs or dubs,” Bajaria highlighted. “That’s not just great for audiences — it’s great for creators, too. Because it means their stories can have an even bigger impact in the world.”

Building on that, she underscored that even in a country like the United States, where audiences have traditionally preferred local American stories, the appetite for non-English language programming is growing. Last year, about 13% of hours viewed in the US were non-English titles — with Korean, Spanish, and Japanese series and films attracting the biggest audiences.

As part of the showcase, several new titles were announced including Untitled Bollywood Project (India), Love is Blind: France (France), Physical 100: Asia (Korea) and new film Bullet Train Explosion (Japan).

To conclude the presentation, Bajaria underscored the themes of the day – Netflix’s partnership with local talent, commitment to local storytelling, and belief that great stories can come from anywhere and be loved by audiences everywhere. “Hopefully you can see the scope and ambition of what we’re doing around the world, and why we think these titles will be the next fan favorites.”

Select Upcoming Highlights

New Titles:

Alcaraz (series, Spain)
All the Love You Wish For (series, Korea)
Atrapados (series, Argentina)
Bullet Train Explosion​ (film, Japan):
Celda 211 (series, Mexico):
Los dos hemisferios de Lucca (film, Mexico)​: (on Netflix January 31)
El Eternauta (series, Argentina)
Un Fantasma en la Batalla (film, Spain)
The Gringo Hunters (series, Mexico)
Last Samurai Standing (series, Japan)
The Leopard (series, Italy):
Revelations (film, Korea)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (series, Colombia):
El Refugio Atómico (series, Spain)
Senna (series, Brazil):
Vini Jr. (film, Brazil):
When Life Gives You Tangerines (series, Korea)

Returning Favorites:

Alice in Borderland S3 (series, Japan)
Delhi Crime S3 (series, India)
The Empress S2 (series, Germany)
The Exchange S2(series, Kuwait)
Heeramandi S2 (series, India)
How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) S4 (series, Germany)
Mantis (film, South Korea)
Nothing to See Here S2 (series, Mexico)
Rana Naidu S2 (series, India)
Sintonia S5 (series, Brazil)
Squid Game S2 (series, Korea)
Troll 2 (film, Norway)