(Johannesburg) Netflix announced on Wednesday plans to expand its operations in Africa, building on the success of shows or series like the South African series Generous and Water.
The online video streaming giant claimed to have invested the equivalent of 160 million euros ($237 million) in film content production in Africa since it began working on the continent in 2016. expanding our business here is good for Netflix,” the company said in a statement.
Its operations in Africa have focused on South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, creating more than 12,000 jobs, according to the company. “It’s a start, we plan to reach more countries on the continent,” Shola Sanni, Netflix’s policy director for sub-Saharan Africa, said at a press conference in Johannesburg.
Currently, South Africa is the site’s largest African contributor, with over 170 films, series and documentaries. In 2020, Generous and Water, a series centered on a teenager from Cape Town who investigates her sister who was abducted at birth, even placed first in the United States.
“We will build on these milestones to grow our business, while continuing to invest to support local creative economies and give more and more African storytellers an amplified voice on the global stage,” the company promises.
In recent years, Netflix has bet on diversifying its production outside the United States, achieving big scores with series such as Spanish La casa de papel and South Korean dystopian drama Squid Game, a worldwide success awarded at the Golden Globes.
In 2021, the company partnered with UNESCO to fund six short films by young African directors. “It’s time for renowned platforms to realize the richness and value of our stories,” one of these winners, South African filmmaker Gcobisa Yako, told AFP on Wednesday on the sidelines of the press conference.
