Netflix’s content chief explains its local content strategy: a billion-dollar Mexico commitment and no appetite for global pitches. Read the breakdown.
Bela Bajaria does not want your global show. Netflix’s chief content officer told a Financial Times entertainment audience that when producers call with one, her first instinct is to hang up the phone. She wants something “authentic and specific and honest,” and she backs it with a budget: a commitment from 2025 to 2028 to spend a billion dollars in Mexico alone. That is the Netflix local content strategy in two facts. It is a spending plan, not a slogan. For independent producers and financiers, the tension is plain. The biggest buyer in the market has an enormous budget, but it is divided by country, run by local teams, and closed to pitches built for everyone.
A Budget Split by Country, Not by Genre
Start with the numbers she used. The moderator put Netflix’s content budget at “$20 billion last time I checked,” and Bajaria repeated the figure herself, noting the service operates in 190 countries. She said Netflix now makes shows and films in 50 countries and 50 languages. Ten years ago, she said, it had a few shows in different languages.
The structure matters more than the total. She described one large, fluid budget divided among country teams. Each team has to “turn that money into shows and films that the members of that country love.” Those teams cover film, series, and licensing, and they work with local players.
So the counterparty is not a global acquisitions desk. It is a local team with a local audience to serve. If you are pitching Netflix, you are pitching a country first.
Why Netflix Hangs Up on the Word “Global”
Bajaria said early pitches often arrived labeled as global shows. She did not want them. “If you try to make something for everyone, you make it for no one,” she said.
Her evidence was two shows. She described Squid Game as made in Korea, by Koreans, for a Korean audience, exploring economy and class. Then it traveled. Adolescence is in English, but she said it grew out of knife crime in very specific parts of the UK, and she called it the second largest show Netflix has ever had. Her summary: “the more specific it is, the more universal it becomes.”
Two examples do not make a law. They are the right two, though, and she picked them. The viewership ranking is her claim, and no supporting data was shown. The Netflix local content strategy rests on this bet, and producers who still open with “global” have been warned.
Creators Are Not a YouTube Play
The moderator raised the comparison to YouTube. Bajaria did not take it. She framed the creator push as finding great storytellers wherever they are, and she was explicit about format: “We don’t do user generated.” What Netflix wants is “professionally produced shows.”
The talent may come from a different place. The bar for the finished product does not move.
Eventized Sports and the Release Question
On live programming, she used the word “eventized.” Pick a moment, then build storytelling and culture around it. Her examples were NFL Christmas Day games, with a Beyoncé halftime one year and Snoop Dogg the next. “We don’t just put the game up or the match up,” she said.
On release strategy, she was firmer still. Netflix launches series all at once because “We are all about consumer choice and control.” She rejected the idea that weekly releases produce more cultural conversation: “There’s no facts that support that.” Her practical reason is scale. With so many titles, she said, weekly rollouts would have to be spread across the entire year.
It is a confident claim, delivered without a chart.
AI as a Tool, Not a Greenlight
Asked about AI, Bajaria pointed to Netflix’s acquisition of Interpositive, a company she said Ben Affleck founded with others, built around how directors work with lens and lighting. She called AI “a tool in the creator’s hands” and said, “I don’t care if they use it.”
Asked whether she would use algorithms to decide what to show, she said no. A greenlight comes when you “feel it in your bones and in your gut.”
She added one commercial point. In some countries, she said, filmmakers cannot realize effects-heavy stories at their ambition without AI, and she named India as where that is already happening.
What Producers and Financiers Should Do With This
The takeaway is procedural. Netflix has a very large budget, but it reaches producers through country teams with local targets. A pitch that leads with global appeal is aimed at something she says she does not want. A pitch that leads with a specific place, a specific audience, and a finished production standard is aimed at the budget she actually described. The Netflix local content strategy rewards packaging and pricing built for a country. Check what each team has publicly committed to before the first call.
Mini FAQ
How much does Netflix spend on content each year?
At the session, the moderator put the figure at $20 billion “last time I checked,” and Bela Bajaria referred to the $20 billion content budget herself. She said it is one large, fluid pool divided among country teams. The figure was cited on stage and has not been independently verified here.
Does Netflix want global shows?
According to Bajaria, no. She said she wants specific, local stories, and that making something for everyone means making it for no one. She pointed to Squid Game and Adolescence as specific stories that traveled.
Is Netflix competing with YouTube by signing creators?
Bajaria did not frame it that way. She said Netflix wants the best storytellers from anywhere, but the output is professionally produced shows. Netflix does not do user-generated content.
