- Title: Netflix CEO says he's "thrilled" to share Oscar glory
- Date: 27th February 2017
- Summary: LOS GATOS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NETFLIX HEADQUARTERS AND SIGNAGE
- Embargoed: 13th March 2017 19:02
- Keywords: Netflix Reed Hastings Barcelona World Mobile Congress
- Location: BARCELONA, SPAIN
- City: BARCELONA, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA00C65AQ4P3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Silicon Valley crashed Hollywood's biggest awards show on Sunday (February 26) as Amazon.com and Netflix collected their first Academy Awards for streaming services while independent studio A24 won the coveted best picture Oscar.
Netflix triumphed in the documentary short-subject category for 40-minute film "The White Helmets" - a look at rescue workers in war-torn Syria.
After upending television with acclaimed online series, Amazon and Netflix joined the ranks of the film industry's elites with four gold statuettes between them.
"The White Helmets", directed by British documentary-maker Orlando von Einsiedel, follows volunteers as they conduct search and rescue operations in Aleppo and undergo training in Turkey.
"We were thrilled to be supporting White Helmets. It's a short documentary about Syria and the rescue workers there - the same white helmets that won the Nobel Peace Prize. And this is one of the great things about entertainment, just being able to connect people to stories and people where they haven't been. So we were so thrilled that the Academy honoured the film White Helmets," said Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, while giving the keynote address at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
For Amazon and Netflix, the accolades provide bragging rights they can use in marketing to help win customers to their subscription video services and make them more attractive to film makers.
"We spent the first couple of years with mostly Hollywood content and now we are rapidly expanding relationships with Turkish television producers, with Korean producers, with Japanese, all over the world, all through Europe. So that part is rapidly expanding and what's happening is as our membership grows - we're coming up on 100 million members around the world - around half of that is international. That gives us a bigger platform, it becomes more attractive so if you are a really good film maker in Spain or in Italy you are really excited about Netflix because it can get global reach for your film," added Hastings.
He also talked about how Netflix has expanded around the world with its streaming video service, now available in more than 190 countries.
"Netflix is available everywhere around the world. We've seen great mobile usage throughout Africa, the Middle east, Asia - that's one of the big stories, how much more people live on mobile," he added.
In October 2016, Netflix reported over 86 million subscribers world-wide, including more than 47 million in the United States.
Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix back in 1997. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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