Popular American Online subscription-based streaming service, Netflix has revealed that it has plans of expanding operations in Africa, emphasizing that its $175m (£140m) investment on the
continent since the year 2016 has already created some successful hit shows.
The announcement was made at an event in Johannesburg, South Africa where the media company launched a report on its impact on South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria
According to the report, the company has created 12,000 jobs on the continent and intends to build on this success beyond just three countries.
“We have undertaken this report to reflect on Netflix’s social and economic impact in the key countries,” Netflix’s sub-Saharan Africa policy director, Shola Sanni noted in the report.
According to Neflix, “We are still in many ways at the inception stages of our investment journey, so it’s doubly exciting to know that we are poised to deliver even greater impact if we maintain
our current momentum – and if the right circumstances for investments in our sector continue to prevail.”
Shola pointed to African productions like Silverton Siege (South African), Aníkúlápó (Nigerian) and Disconnect: The Wedding Planner (Kenyan) as all having at one point made it into Netflix
Global Top 10 lists.
‘’However, to keep telling African stories on a global stage, Netflix needed to have the support of “governments, civil society, private sector and industry” to allow the create industries to thrive,’’ Ms Sanni said. “Enabling policy frameworks, flexible regulatory mandates and ease of doing business are inextricably bound to the continued growth of the audio-visual sector and streaming services.”