“We want more partnerships and more innovation in our partnerships,” said Christopher Whiteley, VP business development EMEA for Netflix in the Netherlands.
Speaking at the conference, ‘The New Broadcasters: the Rise of Internet TV Networks’, on Thursday, he gave several clues as to what’s next for the internet TV network when it comes to growing its business in the face of slowing subscriber growth, according to several recent press reports.
“We want to expand in areas like the Middle East and Turkey, and do other deals in the US like the one we signed with Comcast on its X1 set-top in July,” he added.
The company is keen to build on its 40 existing partnerships (with its NPBDs) in a drive to get wider audiences to watch Netflix content, particularly on set-top boxes. “As our slate of original and exclusive programming gets bigger and better, we are seen less as a direct competitor to their services,” he indicated.
“Technology is never the reason why we don’t do a deal,” he added, describing how Netflix’s teams of engineers sit down with the company’s partners to work on those aspects, to make sure the user experience is right.
An area Netflix is working on is making it easier to pay for the network’s subscription in areas of the world where there are no credit cards, for instance.
