Netflix Can Partner With Reliance For Creating Web Series, Movies Via Network18, Viacom18 Networks!

With the nationwide lockdown stepping into the country, the percentage of people grasping online video content has skyrocketed.

India is already known to be a booming market for OTT platforms, with everyday different set of such platforms either merging with each other, or being bought by a bigger conglomerate.

The Covid-19 pandemic may have slowed and hampered businesses of many sectors but OTT platform sector has seen a good boost in people around the globe consuming their content.

On parallel lines, we are here today to let you know that Network18 affiliates are ‘in talks’ of entering into a partnership with Netflix to help the U.S. company to outrun its biggest competitors like Amazon.com Inc and Walt Disney Co.

Network18 Extends Hand to Netflix?

Netflix is looking forward to expand its offerings in the Indian video content section. It is thus, in talks with partnering with Network18 affiliates that include its joint venture with ViacomCBS, Viacom18.

When asked about it to Netflix India and Viacom18, none of the companies agreed to the theory.

The Indian spokesman for Netflix  denied the report, while the spokeswoman for Viacom18 declined to comment on whether any talks were under way.

Either way, the shares in Network18 Media & Investments surged 5% after the report was originally published.

How will this ‘Partnership’ be Fruitful?

The financial terms of any potential partnership are not immediately clear and negotiations are still in the early stages.

In 2019, its digital unit Tipping Point partnered with Netflix for three Hindi-language shows, but the present discussions are about a bigger tie-up.

This can be understood as a bigger version of the 2019 deal, according to a source.

Another source described the ongoing discussions as one of Netflix’s biggest moves to create local content in India.

Viacom18 is not just Limited to Netflix

Viacom18 licences content to several platforms, including Amazon. 

Even though Viacom18 has allegedly decided to extend a hand to Neflix, it wouldn’t stop creating shows for other platforms.

Network18 is controlled by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani through subsidiaries of his oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries.

Netflix’s Indian roster includes blockbuster originals such as “Sacred Games”, a crime thriller set in Mumbai and starring some of Bollywood’s biggest names. 

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