Netflix to invest €1 billion in Spain over next four years

Netflix is to invest €1bn in Spain over the next four years, according to the streamer’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos.

Sarandos announced the investment figure on a visit today (June 10) to Netflix’s 10-soundstage studio complex at Tres Cantos on the outskirts of Madrid to mark the streamer’s 10^th anniversary in the country.

He was joined by the President of Spain, Pedro Sanchez and the Minister for Digital Transformation Oscar Lopez at Tres Cantos.

Spain has become a significant production base for Netflix. Sarandos said that the streamer had produced more than 1,000 Spanish titles since 2017, flagging series such as its first Spanish original Cable Girls as well as J.A. Bayona’s feature Society Of The Snow, series Elite and Money Heist, and the upcoming Billionaires Bunker from Alex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato.

Sarandos said that Spanish titles had generated over five billion hours of viewing on Netflix last year.

He added that Netflix had helped support more than 20,000 jobs in the Spanish audiovisual sector, and had filmed in more than 200 cities and towns in the country.

Streamers such as Netflix are keen to emphasise the amount of content they produce in European countries such as Spain.

It comes as many European countries, concerned about the growth of US-owned streaming services at the expense of public service broadcasters, are introducing investment obligations or streamer levies to mandate spend on European content. Spain obliges streamers to invest 5% of their turnover in the country into European titles.

“After ten fantastic years, we want to further our long-term commitment to Spain,” said Sarandos, announcing the investment.

Tres Cantos is Netflix’s largest filming base in the European Union – it also leases Shepperton Studios in the UK.

A version of this story appears on our sister site Screen