Netflix, the video-streaming service, wants to keep an edge over its competitors by tapping different storytelling techniques from around the world and sharing them with global audiences, the company’s CEO has said.

In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, a Filipino English-language broadcaster, Reed Hastings said: “In every nation there’s [a] great tradition of storytelling and, if you can capture it on film, then we can really share it with the world.”

He pointed to “Kingdom”, the South Korean period drama, as a good example of a show that can be “really global”, and he also said the Philippines is a “great entertainment market” for Netflix.

“Trese”, for example, is an animated series that the company is currently producing with stories based on the exploits of Alexandra Trese, a Manila detective who deals with crimes of a supernatural origin.

The Philippines is also among nine countries in Asia that will feature in Netflix’s forthcoming “Street Food” series, which is scheduled to be released on 26th April.

Hastings said that, such is the interest global audiences have for content from Asia, Netflix has decided to produce original content from around the region, including Japan, Korea, India and Thailand.

“People are curious. Everyone wants to understand other parts of the world and Asian content gives a glimpse to the rest of the world,” he said.

Indian originals, such as “Lust Stories” and “Sacred Games”, have travelled well abroad and he said in separate comments to Live Mint’s Lata Jha, who visited the company’s huge studio complex in Hollywood, that he was optimistic “Delhi Crime” will do well too.

Greg Peters, chief product officer at Netflix, also discussed the philosophy underpinning the company’s approach to story-sourcing.

“We believe that great stories should be able to come from anywhere on the planet. The majority of Netflix’s 139 million members are from outside the US, a ratio that is going to get bigger in the years to come. And you see that shift in the kind of original programming that we are doing,” he said.

“We believe that people have always wanted authentic storytelling that is rooted in local culture and that locality actually illuminates the universal themes of the story.”

Sourced from ABS-CBN News Channel, Live Mint; additional content by WARC staff