Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos says India’s deep-rooted discomfort with recurring online payments—and a culture of financial mindfulness—has made the country one of the toughest markets for subscription streaming.
Speaking with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, Sarandos admitted that Netflix’s early push for automated monthly charges in India ran headlong into consumer resistance. “The recurring charges was definitely outside of their cultural norm,” he said, recalling the initial confusion. “I thought, ‘Who wouldn’t want that?’”
He added, “Somebody explained it to me. They said, ‘What if somebody asked you for your debit card?’ You would say, ‘No way.’”
Kamath echoed the sentiment, citing affordability and cultural aversion to auto-pay models. “There might be 100 or 200 million people who can actually afford [subscriptions],” he said, but outside that, “we are averse to paying an online fee for something that is recurring.”
Sarandos agreed: “Indian people are more mindful of their money than American people are… You know what you have, you know what you want to spend.”
Netflix has since leaned into hybrid models to woo reluctant subscribers, including its ad-supported tier. Kamath noted that nearly 50% of Netflix’s new audience in India is now entering through the subsidized ad tier.
Still, Sarandos said Netflix will remain “primarily a subscription” service. “Even when [ads] are very healthy, it’ll still be 20% of the business,” he said. Full ad-based models, he added, “don’t support the kind of ambitious content we put on.”
As India continues to grapple with streaming economics, Sarandos said the company is focused on balance: “The trick is finding the right ad load… where consumers say, ‘Yeah, I’ll take a lower fee and I’ll watch the ads.’”
