Netflix plans launching in Brazil
Folha de S. Paulo
The online rental store Netflix plans entering the Brazilian market still in the first half. As found out by Folha, executives of the area of development of international business spent the last two weeks in the country setting up the details for the Brazilian operation. The intention is to offer a monthly subscription for the transmission of movies, videos and series over the Internet as of June. The rental of DVDs through the postal service as it happens in the United States would not be included.
The hiring of a local team is expected for the next months and the company should have an office in the South side of São Paulo. Still according to insiders to the negotiation, the executives of Netflix - headed by the Vice President for the Development of Businesses, Bill Holmes - have talked to movie producers and TV manufacturers, among them Samsung and LG. The intention is to include a "shortcut" for the Netflix system on the TVs that are able to connect to the Internet. Called "widget", the icon appears on the initial screen and it is the main door to the contents of the rental company.
Through its Communications Officer, Steve Swasey, Netflix only confirmed to Folha the international expansion planned for 2011, but he did not say the countries. Samsung declared there are rumors because of the two companies it already has in the USA, but it emphasized there is nothing official. "The TVs with full Internet browsers should get to the Brazilian market at the end of March and they may work as a channel for the sale of the movies when the official operation (of Neflix) is available", says Márcio Portella, of Samsung.
Founded in 1997, Netflix is one of the online video phenomena that has beaten giants like Blockbuster, currently undergoing composition with creditors. In 2002, the company went public and, throughout the years, it built a US$ 10.7 billion empire. Currently with 20 million subscribers, it charges US$ 7.99 for the monthly subscription of online videos in the USA and Canada and it seeks to diversify the model so as to compete with Amazon and Google. The company has more than 100 thousand movies to offer from comedies and TV series to documentaries and musicals.
In the country, Netflix will compete with Netmovies, Brazilian company acquired by the investment fund Tiger Global in December. The company, which operates in a model similar to that of the American company, offers the subscription of 23 thousand DVDs and Blu-ray discs delivered by the postal service and 3,500 movies on online streaming transmission. The company operates in the South, Southeast and it has landed in the Northeast.
"We are prepared for competition. We have an already consolidated strong brand and a fairly complete subscription proposal", says Daniel Topel, founder of Netmovies.