Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has revealed why the streaming giant was not operating in China despite the Asian nation being a major money-making avenue for fresh Hollywood releases. As per Mr Sarandos, he attempted to get Netflix into China for several years, but owing to 'censorship' could not make any inroads before giving up on the exercise.
"Fifteen years ago, everyone thought it was existential. You had to get to China," Mr Sarandos told IndieWire. "For us, I put in a couple of years of trying to do it."
Mr Sarandos added that the company even made a deal with a third-party company, granting them a license to operate in China without being blocked on the internet. However, even that got the streaming giant nowhere.
"The content had to clear the censorship board to make it to air, and in three years, not a single episode of a Netflix show cleared the censorship board. Not one," Mr Sarandos said.
"They had no interest in us being in China. I watched everyone spend the next decade grinding out all their time to get into China and ultimately ended up in the same place I did, which was nowhere."
Also Read | Google DeepMind CEO On What Keeps Him Up At Night: "AGI Is Coming, Society's Not Ready"
US-China tariff war and Hollywood
The Netflix chief's statement comes at a time when the tariff war initiated by US President Donald Trump has led to further deterioration in ties between Hollywood and China.
Earlier this month, Beijing moved to "moderately reduce" the release of Hollywood movies in the country. China's National Film Administration directly linked its decision to US tariffs on Chinese products.
"The wrong move by the US government to abuse tariffs on China will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience's favourability towards American films," the film administration said in its announcement.
"We will follow market rules, respect the audience's choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported," it added.
China accepts 10 films a year from Hollywood, and the Chinese market was once seen as a major source of revenue for the US film industry. However, in recent years, the popularity of Western movies has waned in the Asian nation, with Hollywood films accounting for just five per cent of box office receipts in China.
