Netflix has made it clear that it intends to expand across the globe by the end of 2016, but how can that happen if the service isn’t even available in Asia? Netflix couldn’t agree more, which is why the company has announced that it will begin its Asian expansion this September starting with Japan.
Netflix is bringing its streaming service and original content to Japan, its gateway into the Asian market and a huge source of potential customers, revenue, and content. In addition to confirming the release date with VentureBeat, Netflix opened up a Japanese landing page and Twitter account early Tuesday morning. Netflix has had a busy year of expansion. It entered the Australian and New Zealand markets in March of this year, and the company is poised to launch in Spain, Italy, and Portugal in October. Of course, its entries into individual markets are drops in the bucket when viewed against the spectre of its global expansion strategy. It’s a mammoth effort that has the company aiming to achieve a presence in 200 countries by the end of 2016. (It’s currently available in over 50 countries, meaning there’s still plenty of work to be done.)
