After a horror twelve-month period that saw millions of subscribers flee the world’s biggest streaming service, Netflix has enjoyed a recent turnaround, driven by the Asia-Pacific region.
Netflix announced it added 2.41 million customers during the third quarter of 2022, with user numbers growing in all regions of the world. The streamer expects to sign up another 4.5 million this quarter.
The Asia-Pacific region led the growth in the September quarter, with an increase of more than 1.4 million paid users.
Despite this, revenue from the region dropped 13 per cent year-on-year, due to the strong US dollar.
On top of this, while the Asia Pacific region accounts for roughly 15 per cent of Netflix’s subscribers, they also pay the least: an average of A$13.35 a month, compared to A$21.61 for US subs.
This is a result of low-priced mobile-only plans introduced across Asia, as well as price cuts in India to compete with Disney +, who owned the Indian Premier League rights.
Nevertheless, the Asia-Pacific region remained the only growth area during the company’s horror run, with the company using the region as a testing ground for further global expansion.
“Asia is a great proxy for other markets in the world,” said Tony Zameczkowski, vice president of business development for Asia Pacific, said in July.
“There are similarities between emerging Asia and other emerging markets like Africa and Latin America. Learnings here can be easily replicated or leveraged by those regions.”
Netflix has also focused on creating Korean originals, after both Squid Game and Hellbound became global smashes.
To this end, Scanline VFX, a subsidiary of Netflix, has invested A$141 million in a special visual effects facility in South Korea.