User:CD52348/International expansion of Netflix

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only two edits have been made to my edits after publishing. one user deleted a repeat word, and the other was a wiki-cleaning-bot that fixed a formatting thing

(all sections besides Canada and the 2011 controversy were written by me (I didn't want to bold everything). Within the two other sections, the bolded lines are the sentences I copyedited))

Lead
Netflix is a video on demand service which began expanding its business starting in 2010. The platform started in the United States and expanded for the first time in 2010, to Canada. This marked the beginning of a long expansion process. By 2015, Netflix was operating in 50 countries. Today, Netflix is in over 190 countries, and has drastically increased their rate of expansion in the last five years. As of 2020, there were 203.67 million people paying for a Netflix subscription. Of those people, over 73 million are located in the United States.

Expansion Timeline
In 2010, Netflix entered the international market by expanding into Canada. In 2011, Netflix began to expand more. From September 5th to September 12th, 2011, Netflix began rolling out its services to over 40 countries in the Latin America and Caribbean regions. Netflix began its expansion into Europe in 2012. By the end of that year, Netflix was streaming in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. In 2013, Netflix launched in the Netherlands, and in 2014 Netflix continued its expansion further into Europe. Expansion to Australia and New Zealand occurred in March of 2015. On February 4, 2015, expansion to Japan was announced to begin during the fall of 2015. On January 6, 2016 at Consumer Electronics Show, Netflix announced a major international expansion into 130 new territories (including most areas of Africa); with this expansion, the company promoted that its service would now be available nearly "worldwide", with the only notable exclusions including Mainland China, and regions subject to U.S. sanctions, such as Crimea, Syria, and North Korea. The company also announced a partnership with LG to market pre-paid services in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. As of 2021, Netflix is streaming in over 190 countries, not including China, Crimea, North Korea, or Syria.

Canada
'''Netflix entered the international market when they began offering their streaming service to Canada on September 22, 2010. At the time the subscription costed $7.99 a month''', a rate that CEO Reed Hastings called, "the lowest, most aggressive price we've ever had anywhere in the world." However, despite the proclaimed low price, content selection in Canada was extremely limited. Data conducted in 2012 by Josh Loewen for Canadian Business Online found that in the United States there were 10,625 unique titles in Netflix's library, '''whereas in Canada there were only 2,647. However, there is also content offered exclusively in Canada that is not available in the United States.' For example, a short-lived Fox sitcom, Running Wilde'' starring Keri Russell and Will Arnett, began streaming on Canadian Netflix the same day it began airing in the United States on network television. The show streamed on Canadian Netflix because there was no Canadian broadcast partner '''for the series. Regardless of streaming selection,''' it took the company less than a year to reach one million subscribers, approximately three percent of Canada's population. As of February 2014, there were approximately 5.8 million Canadians using Netflix, or 29% of Canada's English-speaking population. This number represents an increase in Canadian users by approximately 40% since 2012.

The 2011 Controversy
The initial launches in Canada and in Latin America happened before Netflix's 2011 controversy in the United States. In September of that year, the company decided to switch to two separate plans and websites, one for streaming and one for DVD, and hiked their prices accordingly. The change to its business model was accompanied by a loss of approximately one million American users and a plunging stock price. Before announcing the change to service, stock was valued at just around $3'''00. Aft'''er the change, it plunged to less than $53 a share. Prior to this debacle, Netflix had been having its most successful quarter, mainly due to the decision to expand to Latin America. The company quickly lost all the money it made in its previously successful quarter, was forced to apologize, and began to rethink its changing model.

Bringing people back to Netflix after this came in two forms. First, it began work on producing its own original content – announcing its adaptation of House of Cards in 2011 for a 2013 air date and its revival of Arrested Development in 2012 for a 2013 air date. Second, it continued international expansion – the originals were able to travel alongside its international expansion since Netflix, for the most part, retained complete control of their shows' distribution rights.

Cuba
Netflix announced they would expand their business into Cuba in 2015, making them one of the first American companies to do so. However, this expansion brought numerous complications. The limited capacity of Cuba's internet speeds made it difficult to actually watch Netflix in the country. In addition, Netflix's mode required for payment was a barrier to those living in Cuba. Netflix only accepts credit card payments, which are not legal in Cuba. There are also accessibility issues in regards to Netflix's pricing compared to the living wage of those in the country. Therefore, even though Netflix technically expanded to Cuba, the streaming platform is not readily available to the Cuban people.

Australia
Netflix expanded into Australia in 2015. As of 2020, 12.2 million people have access to a Netflix subscription in Australia. In the time Netflix has been streaming in Australia, their popularity has grown immensely; the country has the second-highest penetration rate for Netflix. A country's penetration rate is the percentage of their population that subscribes to Netflix's platform. Australia is second in penetration rate to Canada, where Netflix has been streaming for 5 years longer.

One thing Netflix has struggled with in Australia is streaming local content. Local Australian content has made up, at most, 2.5% of the content offered by Netflix since 2017. As of 2019, the percentage of local content has been as low as 1.7%. Ironically, the United State's Netflix catalogue has more Australian content than the Australian catalogue does. Further, the Netflix-produced Australian originals have faced criticism, especially when compared to the content produced by the Australian streaming service Stan. Whereas Stan 's originals have had almost all positive reception, Netflix's have missed the mark. For instance, Netflix released Tidelands, a supernatural-thriller original, to Australia in 2018. The show was criticized by an Australian TV critic, Wenlei Ma, as "not the show Australia deserves to represent us on the US streaming service." Other Netflix Australian originals include Pine Gap and Lunatics, which have both received negative reviews as well.