The Netflix effect: How the streaming platform got its India script right over the past 10 years

FORTUNE INDIA’S luxury issue a year ago had a feature on ‘quiet luxury’. Whoever we spoke to from the luxury space while researching for this story told us to watch the ‘Netflix show’ Succession, which epitomises quiet luxury. But we couldn’t find it on Netflix. That’s because Succession is an HBO original!

The fact that the who’s who of India’s luxury industry inadvertently pointed towards Netflix — despite Succession being an HBO original — made it apparent that the U.S. streaming platform had become the default entertainment destination for the upper classes in India. Be it House of Cards, Bridgerton, or Sacred Games, Netflix has indeed been offering quality original content to Indian audiences. In fact, co-founder Reed Hastings, on several occasions, had talked about his dream to become the next HBO without the hassle of a cable subscription. Life is serendipitous — if the $72-billion Netflix-Warner Bros. Discovery deal fructifies, HBO would become a part of Netflix’s portfolio.