Netflix: Canadian (Dis)Content. Competing Sovereignties and the Cultural Politics of Cultural Policy

A Case Study of How Netflix Adapts Its Development Strategy to the Media System in Canada

“…After entering the Canadian market, the first change Netflix made in its development strategy based on the Canadian media system is to increase the production of local content in Canada. This adaption is in line with the Canadian government's cultural protectionism policies that aim at defending the country's cultural sovereignty and promoting the prosperity of Canadian culture (Schnitzer, 2019). This is also an important change that Netflix has to make to meet Canadian government regulations in the broader media system with the characteristics of central Canadian imperialism.…”

“…The Canadian media system and its policies are inclined to mix economic and cultural objectives, and policymakers expect to achieve some degree of cultural sovereignty in the context of a relatively small national market (Davis & Zboralska, 2017). In a sense, The Canadian media system and policies are influenced by nationalism, protectionism, and central Canadian elites, with a tendency toward central Canadian imperialism (Schnitzer, 2019). Canadian media policymakers hope that these policies and their media system can protect Canada from the expansion of the United States and enable Canada to maintain its cultural prosperity (Schnitzer, 2019).…”

“…In a sense, The Canadian media system and policies are influenced by nationalism, protectionism, and central Canadian elites, with a tendency toward central Canadian imperialism (Schnitzer, 2019). Canadian media policymakers hope that these policies and their media system can protect Canada from the expansion of the United States and enable Canada to maintain its cultural prosperity (Schnitzer, 2019).…”

“…As a result, Netflix's customized content has helped the platform to increase user engagement and become a unique streaming service provider. Headquartered in the United States, Netflix has started its global expansion, entering many countries such as Canada and France (Schnitzer, 2019;Wu & Zhou, 2021). In its expansion process, Netflix has devised its distinctive global expansion strategy and obtained high-quality target consumers in various streaming media markets (Wu & Zhou, 2021).…”

Diálogo transmedia de las series de televisión. La superación de la Quinta Pared en House of Cards

“…Heredia-Ruiz (2017) afirma que House of Cards marca un antes y un después en la industria televisiva internacional, e inaugura un modelo convergente, en el que se suma lo mejor del cine, la televisión e internet, en un producto audiovisual de gran calidad. Con una inversión aproximada de 50 millones de dólares por temporada, Netflix inició una era de producción de contenidos propios con un gran modelo (Heredia-Ruiz, 2017, p. 284), que no ha hecho sino crecer, con productos globales y al mismo tiempo, ficciones nacionales de idiosincrasias más concretas para determinados países -Canadá (Schnitzer, 2019), China (Kokas, 2018), Corea (Ju, 2019), España (Fernández y Martín, 2018; Martín, Fernández y Segado, 2019)que también triunfan en todo el mundo.…”