Imagining Global Video: The Challenge of Netflix

Abstract

etflix has evolved swiftly and significantly over its two-decade history.The service that established itself distributing films on DVD by mail in the United States is now most aptly categorized as a global video service.Yet Netflix's often-claimed "global" status is always a matter of dispute, for film and media scholars as much as for audiences.Because of Netflix's policy of reporting subscriber numbers only in the categories of US or "international" subscribers, it is often difficult to have a sense of how pervasive the service is anywhere other than the United States.Netflix's catalog, cultural status, brand recognition, and market power also vary enormously from country to country.For media scholars, these conditions present empirical and conceptual challenges related to the general problem of how to study a video service that is experienced differently in each country.They also open up possibilities for comparative research grounded in specific contexts to better understand Netflix in its diverse geographic manifestations.This In Focus dossier is the result of one such research experiment.Critically locating Netflix in a global context requires holding two contradictory realities in balance: Netflix is a single company that has direct-to-consumer subscription relationships with 150 million customers worldwide.This makes it arguably more global than any previous screen producer and distributor.But to make any claim about Netflix requires locating it in a particular placein a country-specific catalog; in a nation-state with particular technological infrastructure, competing and complementary services, and regulatory regimes; and in markets characterized by different audience expectations, preferences, and cultural norms.

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