Media

Netflix, the ten years that changed TV and global consumption

Streaming bigwig celebrates decade of global expansion: 135 billion invested in content, 325 billion global economic impact

by Andrea Biondi

12 May 2026

Una schermata del sito creato da Netflix per i dieci anni dall’espansione internazionale

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

International Jump
Global and local
Economic impact
In Italia
Not only originals

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

There are also those who are not happy. In Texas, Netflix is being sued because, according to Attorney General Ken Paxton, the platform improperly collects user data and is designed to be addictive, especially among younger people. 'When you watch Netflix, Netflix watches you', is the phrase chosen by the prosecution to open the dossier. Also in the crosshairs end up mechanisms such as autoplay, that gentle and relentless little trick that turns one episode into the next before the viewer has even really decided to stay.

Netflix rejects everything: 'This lawsuit is baseless and based on inaccurate and distorted information'. And it claims to take 'the privacy of its subscribers very seriously'.

The International Jump

All this while the streaming giant celebrates ten years since its big international leap. And it does so by stringing together numbers that testify to continuous growth, always pointing upwards. Of course, the debate is open, and not as of today: has Netflix's arrival on the scene and its global expansion been a panacea for the economies of the territories or an element that has shaken the industry from its foundations.

Even on Wall Street, after all, the Netflix effect has been seen. Whoever had invested USD 10,000 ten years ago would today find himself with USD 97,370, with a compound average annual growth rate of 25.57%. Not bad for a company that, in January ten years ago, went from around 60 countries to over 190 in a single day.

At the time, it seemed like a geographical conquest. Today Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of the group, describes it in a blog post as a cultural operation: 'We were looking forward to bringing great stories from all over the world to viewers everywhere.

Global and local

The thesis is simple: to go global, Netflix had to go local. Not just Hollywood, then. In 2015, 'Club de Cuervos', the first original series outside the United States, arrived in Mexico. Since then, the group has produced films and series in over 4,500 cities, in more than 50 countries and in 50 languages. Over the past decade, it has invested more than $135 billion in content and claims a contribution of more than $325 billion to the global economy, with more than 425,000 job opportunities for cast and crew, plus 700,000 extras and day labourers.

The economic impact

Sarandos insists on the people behind the figures: scriptwriters, directors, carpenters, electricians, hoteliers, drivers, restaurateurs. "The Lincoln Lawyer", four seasons in, would have brought over $425 million to the California economy and employed over 4,300 people. 'Stranger Things' would have created over 8,000 production jobs. In Strängnäs, near Stockholm, seven European versions of 'Love is Blind' turn a small town into a permanent set for 40 weeks a year.

The effect, however, does not stop at the set. It is consumption, tourism, fashion, music, desire. The sets are not just watched: they are imitated. After 'The Chess Queen', sales of chess and chess books increased. With 'Stranger Things' a Kate Bush song has returned to the top of the world. With "Squid Game" white Vans became a planetary uniform. With 'Emily in Paris' a hat can turn into an online search phenomenon.

In Italia

And Italia? In the last ten years, Netflix says it has distributed over a thousand Italian films and series. Its original productions have been filmed in more than 100 cities. From 2021 to 2024, it would have generated more than EUR 1.1 billion in added value in the Italian economy and more than 5,500 job opportunities. 'The Law of Lidia Poët', between Turin and Piedmont, mobilised more than 600 cast and crew members, 2,700 extras and daily helpers, 110 locations and dozens of specially created costumes and jewellery.

Not only originals

Then there is the other side of the platform, the one that is less talked about: Netflix does not only live on originals. More than 75% of the available titles are licensed. This is the case of Mare Fuori, which originated on Rai2 and then became, once it arrived on Netflix, a title capable of remaining in the Italian top 10 for over 30 weeks and exceeding 10 million views between 2023 and 2025.

This is the real transformation: streaming has not only changed the remote control. It has changed the geography of the industry. In 2025, 70% of views came from subscribers watching titles from a country other than their own. Non-English works, ten years ago under a tenth of views, have risen to a third.