Netflix executives Todd Yellin (L) and Sean Carey.
Netflix executives Todd Yellin (L) and Sean Carey.
Are you ready to join the cult of Netflix? Chris Schulz meets the men selling the television streaming service to New Zealand.
Flowers are on the table, grape juice is on ice and smoked salmon bagels with microgreens sit on thick white tablecloths. In the corner is a TV bearing the distinctive red logo of a soon-to-be very well known brand name.
This Pier One hotel room laden with gourmet snacks and a stunning view across Sydney Harbour is the first port of call for journalists attending the Australia-New Zealand Netflix junket. On the surface, things appear calm. Underneath, it's perhaps a little fraught.
In 15 minutes, while we are waiting to interview two American Netflix bigwigs, no less than four media minders and PR handlers wander through the room.
In a 12-year career in entertainment journalism, that's a record. By the end of my session, they will more than double in number.
"You'll like them," one says of my American hosts. It sounds more like an instruction than smalltalk.
After browsing the Netflix catalogue set-up on the TV - featuring House of Cards, Better Call Saul and Orange is the New Black, three shows that won't be on offer when Netflix launches in NZ - I'm invited to walk down the hall for the interview.
There, I fight my way through another group of PR minders that takes the tally into double figures, past more stacks of snacks, into a cramped room that can only be described as a TV addict's wet dream.
Three giant screens line the walls, while smart phones, game consoles and tablets swamp tables and couches. They're all connected to Netflix, and they're all playing shows. It's overwhelming. Like Neo plugging into the Matrix.
Beaming through all that screen glow are the smiles of Todd Yellin, Netflix vice-president of product innovation, and Sean Carey, vice-president of content acquisition,. They have the upbeat positivity of suppliers laden with enough product to satiate the biggest addiction.
"Let's show you how all this works," says Yellin after a crushing handshake. He grasps a tablet and scrolls through Netflix's massive library of shows and movies. No less than three PR people - two locals and Cliff Edwards, Netflix director of Corporate Communications - sit down as we begin our interview, breaking another record. The message, it seems, must get through.
This, Kiwi TV addicts, is what a SVOD juggernaut looks like. And on Tuesday, it lands in New Zealand.
Perhaps calling Netflix a cult is a little harsh. If it is, it's the biggest one on the planet - and it's spreading. New Zealand is the latest of 50-plus countries the American company has set up shop in, and once we're online it's Japan's turn.
Yellin, who has a fun habit of saying the same thing repeatedly in different ways, says Netflix wants to be "global throughout the entire world for all intents and purposes, in every country, within the next two years".
Netflix, an all-you-can-eat service that encourages bingewatching, already has 57 million subscribers, and it will likely add many tens of thousands more upon launch here. It comes armed with a massive library of content, including TV shows and movies, and the promise of much more to come. Netflix wants to have a full season of an original show debuting every two weeks. It will launch its first movie, a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, in July. "The catalogue will be twice as big a year after launch," promises Carey.
If New Zealand's current on-demand services Lightbox (owned by Spark), Neon (Sky TV), Quickflix and Ezyflix aren't worried yet, they should be. Carey admits New Zealand has a saturated on-demand TV market. And Yellin says there's only room for two services.
"I've read about the different providers in New Zealand," he says. "The better ones will last and will go on and there'll be a couple of different choices."
Carey calmly adds: "We have launched in very competitive territories and succeeded. We hope to succeed (in New Zealand) as well."
Perhaps Netflix's biggest competition isn't competing services - it's themselves. Netflix is already available here thanks to backdoor access that allows users to hide their network address and subscribe to the US service. Carey and Yellin admit New Zealand's service won't be as good as America's, because they've sold the rights to seasons of their own shows to competitors. House of Cards and Orange is the New Black are both available on Lightbox.
So how will they persuade Kiwis who are already Netflix users to make the switch? Once Netflix comes online here, subscribers to the US service will dwindle, says Yellin. "It's a game of whack a mole: shut it down over here and it pops up over there. It's not a winnable battle, but it's a winnable war," he says. "When we launch in New Zealand, it won't matter. Once you have it, the whole idea of VPNing into the service becomes a footnote in history."
It's an attitude that one Auckland TV fan who already has Netflix US doesn't agree with. The user, who asked not to be named, told TimeOut she'd been using the service for a year by streaming shows via her laptop, and she loved it. She wasn't interested in swapping to the New Zealand service because she believed it would be inferior.
"Now that I've got the blocker set up, it's so easy," she said. "I smashed through season three of House of Cards in a weekend ... I'm still paying for the service so I don't feel bad about it."
One thing we still don't know is how much Netflix will cost. That's a secret until launch day. But you can guess: in America, packages range from basic US$8-per-month rates, to $12 for a full service allowing HD streaming and access to multiple devices and accounts.
As Yellin explains: "I can be watching one piece of content while my wife is in the bedroom watching something entirely different. We have a special higher end family plan where you can do four concurrent streams."
Yes, Yellin and Carey are high on their own supply. Near the end of our interview, Yellin says this: "From here-on in, New Zealand is part of the Netflix family. Everything we produce will be released at exactly the same time as it is in the US and every other country in the rest of the world." Like that PR handler's no-so-casual comment earlier, it sort of feels like a warning.
Interview over, I'm escorted back to the room with the salmon bagels, where I'm briefed on something Yellin said that a PR minder has an issue with. Problem sorted, I'm presented with a gift card that will give me a free taste of Netflix. It's my first hit. Like New Zealand's TV landscape, I might never be the same again.
What: TV-on-demand streaming service Netflix When and where: Available on smart TVs, tablets, gaming consoles, phones and computers from March 24 Content: Exclusive shows inlcude Bloodline, Marco Polo, Sense8 and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
