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Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos On the third day of WAVES Summit 2025, a fireside chat on the evolving landscape of global streaming and storytelling, featured Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive officer of Netflix, in conversation with actor Saif Ali Khan. The discussion titled “streaming the new India: culture, connectivity and creative capital,” offered insights into the transformative power of streaming, the burgeoning potential of Indian narratives on the world stage, and the intricate relationship between content creators and their increasingly global audience.
“We’ve been operating in India now for nine years,” Sarandos stated, recalling the pivotal moment seven years prior. “But we took our big swing seven years ago with Sacred Games,” he added, highlighting Netflix’s early bet on local content and its resonance.
Sarandos underscored the core belief that fueled this investment: “what we found with Sacred Games is that great stories could transcend borders, language, culture and really talk to the world.”
Predicting the next two decades proved a challenge for Sarandos. “20 years is a long time to predict for, I wouldn’t have been able to predict, I think even where we sit today, seven years ago, when we first started here, in many ways, bigger and different than I would have ever expected.” However, he emphasised the fundamental impact of streaming: “meeting the audience where they are.”
Sarandos urged creators to prioritise audience connection over business models, stating, “Your first thought should be, how do I please this audience? How do I get them to where they are and not spend too much time debating about business models and distribution systems? Because the audience isn’t talking about that at all.”
Sarandos then highlighted Netflix’s significant investment in Indian content. “From 2021 through 2024, we’ve invested in India in a way that has created USD 2 billion of economic impact from our productions, 20,000 cast and crew jobs from our productions in India.” He also shared viewership figures: “about three billion hours of Indian content on Netflix” were watched globally last year, with “a title from India in the global top ten” every single week. This output comprised “150 original films and series” filmed across “90 different cities around India.”
Addressing the broader industry implications, Sarandos drew a parallel between streaming’s accessibility and India’s historical tradition of bringing films to remote areas. “What streaming has done is green met the audience where they were focused on entertaining.” His primary concern remained the sustainability of content creation. “In the US, the average person sees two movies a year…they watch seven movies a month [on streaming],” he noted, suggesting a model that could support filmmaking long-term.
When asked for advice for Indian creators aiming for global recognition, Sarandos offered: “if you try to engineer something to be global, you are making it for nobody. The things that are proven to be the most global…have been the things that have been the most locally authentic.” He cautioned against diluting the “Indian-ness” of stories, assuring that global audiences would recognise and appreciate the unique worlds created.
He cited the example of the Mexican film Roma’s success in India, despite its strong cultural grounding, because it resonated with universal themes. This led to his belief that “India is on the cusp of a very big inflection point for movies…the way that Squid Game was that kind of moment for Korea.” He highlighted how streaming provides the necessary distribution platform for Indian stories to reach a global audience, much like Korean dramas have done.
In closing, Sarandos concluded the session with a deeper understanding of Netflix’s commitment to global storytelling, with India poised for a significant chapter in this ongoing narrative.
- Published On May 3, 2025 at 03:30 PM IST
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