Image: Baby Reindeer, Netflix
Did you ever wonder how a platform’s catalog looks in a different country? Do subscribers in another country get more content with their subscription? How much does a platform like Netflix adjust its catalog from country to country to account for market specific preferences? With Parrot Analytics’ Content Panorama we can get a view of platform catalogs across all markets where they are available.
You might be surprised that Slovakia punches well above its weight when it comes to the outright size of Netflix’s catalog in this market. We found that in Q1 2024, users in Slovakia had access to the largest Netflix catalog with over 7000 shows and movies available to stream. The ten countries with the largest Netflix catalog were all in Europe. The large size of Netflix’s library in European markets was driven primarily by the number of movies available to stream here. If we only consider the number of shows on Netflix, Slovakia ranks #22 and the top ten is more dominated by Asian markets.
Netflix is available in more than 190 markets worldwide and the amount of content on Netflix can vary a fair amount from country to country, as seen above. For example, the total amount of titles available on Netflix in the US is about 20% fewer than in Slovakia. However, the streamer’s focus on making original content in markets around the world has in some ways standardized the experience of Netflix users globally. A Netflix original made for one market will generally be made available to its users around the world. There is surprising consistency across countries when it comes to a high level genre breakdown of shows on Netflix.
If we look at the share of comedy titles available on Netflix across markets it ranges from around 40% in Thailand and several other markets in Southeast Asia to a 34.1% share of the catalog of shows available in the Czech Republic. In the vast majority of markets where Netflix is available, between 37 and 40% of shows on the platform were comedies. This is even more surprising when we consider how much audience demand for genres varies between markets. In Q1 2024 the total market demand share of comedy series ranged from 34 - 48% across all markets.
Does an international behemoth like Netflix become less nimble at responding to local content preferences? The relatively uniform share of comedy titles on Netflix around the world despite larger variance in local demand for this genre suggests the platform isn’t tailoring its local content offerings as much as it could be. It also points to a strategy for smaller platforms looking to compete with the market leader by targeting market specific audience preferences.
