Global Players in Europe 1: Netflix

Using Nordic Noir and crime series as an example, this chapter shows how Netflix uses different ways to gain an audi-ence on local markets and to sustain subscribers over longer periods of time. Through an analysis of the platform interface of Netflix, I demonstrate how the idea of originality has been a prime branding model for Netflix, starting with the political thriller House of Cards (2013-), continuing today with a much broader idea of what originality appears to be. Finally, I show – again through the lenses of Nordic Noir – how Netflix has been able to tap into the geopolitical transcultural identity of ‘Nordism’ through their local productions and branding acquisitions of canned productions as Netflix originals.

The chapter studies crime series on Netflix and trans-cultural identity through local productions, originals and online branding models in the Nordic region. The Netflix Nordic Noir case exemplifies Netflix’s crucial localisation process in each territory handled or approached by Netflix, and represents what Ramon Lobato calls “the stubborn locality of taste”: “Netflix, despite its many powers, cannot easily overcome the locality of taste – it must localise itself if it wishes to compete on a global scale” (Lobato 2019: 133). In other words, the locality of taste highlights how local and transcultural a global institution like Netflix needs to be in order to get a foothold in local and regional territories, due to national or regional legislation or simply ‘what people want’.