Netflix CEO says it will launch ad-free paid video service in China

On April 17, according to foreign media reports, Reed Hastings, CEO of video website Netflix, said on Wednesday that the company hopes to launch a paid video playback service without advertisements in the Chinese market, sticking to the company's traditional model instead of looking for advertisers.

The U.S. company has previously said it planned to launch a “small-scale” service in China, provided it could obtain a license to operate in the country, where consumers are used to watching entertainment for free, either supported by advertising or pirated.

Netflix offers TV series and movies on demand. These programs are ad-free, and consumers who want to watch them need to pay a monthly fee.

“What we’re good at is content without ads,” Mr. Hastings said in an interview. “That may mean we’re limited to certain parts of China in the first few years, but that’s the plan.”

Netflix currently operates its own online video service in about 50 countries, and the company aims to expand its audience market to 200 by the end of 2016. Under its aggressive overseas growth strategy, the company exceeded its own expectations, with the number of paying users reaching 62.3 million in the first quarter.

As for China, “we will continue to look for opportunities to communicate with Chinese companies and American companies that are successful or having difficulties in the Chinese market,” Hastings said. “This is a gradual process.”

Netflix Chief Operating Officer Ted Sarandos said in an interview last month that the company might enter the Chinese market without a local partner, an approach that could make it harder for the company to do business in a country known for its tight regulation and censorship.

But Sarandos told analysts on Wednesday that the media reports were "slightly taken out of context."

In a conference call after the earnings report was released, Sarandos said, "We very much want to do business in China and will try various forms."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.