The Silicon Review ^Asia

Netflix’s popularity graph rises in Asia after it witnessed huge growth in India. The company has around five million strong user base in the country.

According to a report published by CCN Money, Netflix as part of a wider expansion into original content from Asia announced nine new Indian originals that include one television series and eight movies. New originals; India accounts for more than half, also include series from South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan.

The online streaming giant, as per the report, hopes more local content that suits its global user base of over 137 million. It looks like Netflix mainly banks on Asia content for its next wave of growth.

“Asia is home to the world’s great creative centers producing some of the most compelling films and series of today,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, said in Singapore while announcing the new originals.

“More than half of Asian content hours viewed on Netflix this year are viewed outside the region, so we have confidence that our upcoming slate of Asian productions will find fans in their home countries and abroad,” Sarandos added.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that India is one of the platform’s key overseas markets. He, earlier this year, predicted that Netflix’s “next 100 million” users will come from the country; considering the company’s popularity in the region. Sacred Games, launched in July this year, was India’s first original series.

According to Counterpoint Research, Netflix stands at position three in India with five million monthly users, its global rival Amazon stands at position two with 11 million users, and its Indian competitor Hotstar tops the list with 75 million users.

According to the CNN report, Hotstar will soon to be owned by Disney.

It’s evident, considering the numbers, that Netflix will have to push a little hard to keep the pace with its rivals in India.