Netflix’s Myleeta Aga Talks Content Strategy

Myleeta Aga, the director of content for Southeast Asia and Australia at Netflix, shared perspectives on her programming strategy at the APOS Virtual Series.

Addressing local originals and acquisitions in Southeast Asia, Aga said that since the platform arrived in the region in 2016 it has “doubled our catalog every year. It is a hugely important market for us. We partner with all the major studios. We license content, we produce content in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. We are actively engaged with each of these markets. It’s a different mix of licensed local films, series and originals. Depending on the content mix, we’re working with different kinds of partners. Some of our content travels within Southeast Asia, some is even seen beyond Asia. We are focused on local-language series for local audiences.”

As for what’s trending in this key Southeast Asian markets, Aga mentioned direct-to-Netflix films from Indonesia and Thailand and a slate of Filipino movies. “We do see romantic comedies do well across Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines. In Thailand, we see genre content doing well. And our Korean content really resonates. We have over 200 titles produced out of Asia in the last four years. There’s a huge commitment. Asian content does travel around the region.”

Asked about the pandemic’s impact on consumption, Aga said, “The nature of the crisis is unprecedented. The engagement we have has been really encouraging. We’re trying to focus on what we know members like in terms of content and not get too distracted by the momentum of lockdowns. We’re still on a long journey with COVID. We’re not sure when it ends and how societies have to adapt. So our focus remains on what we were doing before, which is finding great content and offering it to our members.”

She also referenced Netflix’s $150 million relief fund for crew members impacted by production shutdowns. “On my turf, we had $500,000 deployed in Thailand and $1 million deployed in Australia to help the creative communities. That has been well received and it’s great to be supporting so many freelancers and creative personnel who have been so badly impacted by COVID.”

Aga then talked about how Netflix is working with creatives in Southeast Asia. “Overall, each country has its own set of preferences and we are really market-first. We’re hiring local creative execs who have a closer affinity with the production community and also the content that comes in each market. We’ve been investing in programs to help creators who do fantastic work perhaps in film but are less familiar with how we work on Netflix limited series. We do post-production workshops. We launched an incubator program in Thailand that we got over 500 entries for. So we are investing not just in a show when we make originals but creating a community of professionals who can deliver super impactful stories for our members on Netflix.”

In Indonesia, for example, Netflix has licensed feature films from several studios and is talking with them about originals. It is also making original films in Indonesia.

“Our members just want content. They love the stuff that comes out of Hollywood, they love the international series like Casa de Papel, they engage a lot with Korean content, and then films that are available in theaters that are perhaps less available at the moment so they engage with that. And originals on top. We’re trying to build a complete offering in all of our key markets in Southeast Asia.”

In Thailand the platform has debuted one original series and a few original films, Aga said. “We have a lot of acquired films hitting the service as well.

“We lean very much into the insights we get from what our members watch on Netflix, but also what we see in the box office,” Aga added.

The Southeast Asian journey for Netflix is just beginning, Aga noted. “We have more than a million members in some of our Southeast Asian markets. We see that as the starting point and we expect Thailand and Indonesia to be really exciting markets in the years to come. And the Philippines. It’s step by step. The challenge often in Southeast Asia is that there are so many markets and it can be distracting. But we’re fortunate we have such a rich catalog of content, so we can make choices, not chase numbers, when it comes to volumes of local content. We like to make choices of good local content. We think that will drive our growth.”

Shifting gears to Australia, a more mature market for Netflix, Aga said, “Australians love Netflix. They love the films, especially the romances, the documentaries like Last Dance and Tiger King. The next level of engagement is very much on local content. But we also expect that local content and engaging with local creators will take some time in production. We’ve begun those conversations and we’ll have exciting news to announce. In the meanwhile, we are working with the community, like ABC, helping support some of their commissions. These are series made in Australia but they speak to a global audience. Australia is a uniquely fertile for us because we know Australian members love our content, but we still want to engage with the creative community and make new things from Australia. Just in the last four years we’ve invested $109 million across nine series just in kids’ content filmed and set in Australia. As we talk more and more to local voices and discover new content in that space, we’ll be launching direct-to-Netflix films. Across the spectrum, it’s a great market to work in.”