Netflix has gone live in Australia and New Zealand today, which is a major step towards the accomplishment of its global expansion plan. With the launch in these two countries, the streaming service has marked its entry into the Asia Pacific region, and in the coming fall, the company might also enter Japan.
Netflix offering streamlined content
Standard access to Netflix’s catalog is available at a price of A$8.99 (US $7) per month to customers based in Oceania. HD quality streams are available at A$11.99 (US$9.40), while 4K quality streams are available at A$14.99 ($11.77). The content offered to Australian subscribers will be very streamlined in the beginning.
Netflix U.S. offers access to movies like The Wolf of Wall Street, Silver Linings Playbook, World War Z, and The Croods, but none of these are available in New Zealand and Australia right now. The U.S. service offers its viewers 940 TV series and 6,170 movies, while viewers in Australia and New Zealand can gain access to 220 TV series and 900 movies, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald. Netflix is in the early stages of securing release rights in Australia and is trying to add as many titles to its catalog as possible for viewers in the region.
Australian viewers may be getting fewer titles, but Netflix is offering some unique titles in Australia that are not available to U.S. or Canadian viewers. Such unique titles are the outcome of various deals Netflix has with players like ABC.
Asia a lucrative but challenging market
By 2017, the streaming company has set a target of providing its services in as many as 200 countries across the world, with Asia being the most coveted market for expansion. The market already has tough competitors, and recently there has been an entry of two major video-on-demand companies. HOOQ will be launched in Southeast Asia by operator Singtel in partnership with Sony Pictures and Warner Brothers. The other new competitor will be iflix, which seeks to expand in the region.
At around 10:13 a.m. Eastern, Netflix shares were up 3.21% to $438.43, and year to date, the stock is up by over 27%.
