India’s cartoon baby a global hit for Netflix
When Netflix plunged into India’s vast market with its first original animated kids series in April, it turned to a curious baby known as Bheem who crawls through his rural village overcoming challenges to nab the perfect white flower to complement his mom’s purple sari.
Company executives anticipated that “Mighty Little Bheem” would be embraced by Indian audiences, but they were pleasantly surprised when the series designed for preschoolers took off worldwide, becoming the secondmostpopular original Netflix kids program, after “The Boss Baby: Back in Business” from DreamWorks Animation.
Encouraged by the success, the streaming giant is ordering more international animated originals from India and other countries. “Mighty Little Bheem,” created by Green Gold
Animation of Hyderabad, just began its second season, and Netflix said last week that it has OKd a third.
The series, which is distributed and financed by Netflix, is part of the company’s larger push to support international animators as it adds subscribers globally, especially in large markets like India.
Melissa Cobb, vice president of original animation for Netflix, said it wants more of such content.“We’re finding the best way to do that is to empower creators all over the world to make the show that they wish their children could grow up watching,” she said.
Other animated originals coming to Netflix include “Dino Girl Gauko” from Japan, “The Nutty Boy” from Brazil, and the Zambian story “Mama K’s Team 4.”
Netflix is facing a domestic slowdown in subscribers as more competitors enter the market. Research firm eMarketer estimates that Netflix will see a drop in its market share this year, capturing 87% of people who subscribe to a streaming service in the United States, down from 90% in 2014. By 2023, Netflix’s market share will drop to about 86%, as Hulu and Amazon gain more business, eMarketer’s estimates.
“It’s a sign of more competition,” said eMarketer analyst Ross Benes, adding that Netflix must look to other markets for growth.
Last quarter, Netflix reported a decline of 126,000 U.S. subscribers, its most notable quarterly loss since 2011. Its total number of paid subscribers last quarter was 151.6 million, short of the company’s forecast of 153.9 million.
Competitors entering the market this year include Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus.
And pressure has been building on the Los Gatos company to expand its library with new original content as media companies pull their popular shows like “The Office” and “Friends” from Netflix and place them on their own streaming services.
Enter Green Gold Animation, which already had a popular animated series about a young boy who has extraordinary strength and lives in a rural Indian village in a fictional kingdom.
Green Gold wanted to find a way to reach international audiences, and Netflix wanted to expand its reach in India.
For years, Green Gold tried to get its content onto international TV stations, with few takers, said founder and CEO Rajiv Chilaka.
But the company found a willing partner in Netflix, which felt that there was lack of preschool content in India.
While the streaming giant sought to increase its reach in India, it was also eager to broaden the appeal of the series globally, so changes were made. The new series would feature Bheem as a baby and scenes were adjusted.
For example, one episode was altered so the children were fighting over a ball of yarn instead of a big piece of cake. The concern was the message it would send to children in countries where obesity is a problem, said Marc Lumer, Green Gold’s vice president and head of U.S. operations.
Though the program is distinctly Indian, the absence of dialogue and universal themes, such as Bheem’s loving bond with his mother, lend it broad crosscultural appeal. The series, which has episodes that run about six minutes, is streamed in 190 countries.
Netflix did not disclose financial terms of its partnership or the show’s budget. The third season will include 15 episodes as well as two holiday specials.
But the popularity of “Mighty Little Bheem” has boosted Green Gold, which now has more than 1,400 employees, with offices in India, Los Angeles, Singapore and the Philippines.
Chilaka was inspired to pursue a career in animation after reading about Walt Disney. He started an animation studio out of his house in 2001.
“Indian kids need a role model,” he said. “They need to have characters that they can identify themselves with.”
India is a significant market for Netflix, based on its population of more than 1.3 billion and its growing affluence.
The number of Netflix subscribers in India grew from just 1.4 million in 2018 to 4.1 million in 2019, according to research firm IHS Markit. But Amazon Prime Video has 4.4 million subscribers, it said.
The annual cost of Amazon video in India is about $14, roughly the cost of two months of Netflix, said Jun Wen Woo, a senior analyst of video and mobile media with IHS Markit. With that in mind, Netflix has created a plan there that costs about $3 a month for people who view Netflix only on mobile devices.
“Growth in that country is a marathon,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, told investors in July. “So we’re in it for the long haul, and we’re seeing nice, steady progress.”
Shows that originate in India can also translate well with international audiences. For example, “Mighty Little Bheem” has large followings in the U.S., Brazil and Mexico, among other countries.
“We really hoped that it would connect with audiences in India, and I think the thing that delighted us was discovering what it means for audiences throughout the globe,” Cobb said.