iWorld
Asia Pacific region leads in Netflix Q3 2024 results
MUMBAI: The Asia Pacific region is shining for Netflix. At least as far as net subscribers additions (net paid adds) are concerned. The region at 2.28 million net adds in Q3 calendar year 2024 was the topmost contributor. It was followed by 2.17 million net adds in Europe, middle east and Africa (EMEA) and 0.69 million net adds in the US and Canada. Latin America saw a shaving off of 0.07 million net adds during the period. This was revealed by the global streaming giant in its latest financial performance report on Thursday in the US.
Overall, that totted up to five million net paid sub adds in the latest quarter, giving the streamer 282.7 million subscribers globally. It also helped increase its revenue to $9.8 billion – a 15 per cent rise over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Net income also showed improved to $2.3 billion.
The company said it was working on improving its product/market fit in APAC and it had a strong local content slate in Japan, Korea, Thailand and India in Q3. As a result, its revenue growth rate in APAC (19 per cent growth year on year) led all regions. The revenue growth figures for the other regions were: US & Canada and EMEA (16 per cent – 10 per cent growth in average paid members and five per cent growth in average revenue per member) and Latin America (nine per cent).
“..(We are)…increasingly seeing a steady drumbeat of hit titles from countries around the world,” said Netflix co-CEO, president & director Gregory Peters, during an earnings call with investment analysts. “…you’ve got Japan. You’ve got Korea. You’ve got Thailand. You’ve got India. This represents, again, that decade-plus investment in those creative communities, working with local storytellers there and making sure that they have the capability to tell their stories in a compelling way. So that’s super exciting and we expect to see more of that.”
Among the shows and films from APAC which did well in the quarter included: Tokyo Swindlers from Japan (10.5 million views) and Culinary Class Wars from South Korea (11.0 million views), Officer Black Belt (South Korea, 32.8 million views), and Maharaja (India, 22.6 million views).
Netflix revealed that it streams around 200 billion hours of content yearly and that engagement continues to be healthy at about two hours per day per paid membership on average, despite the impact of paid sharing. That is only expected to go up with the push into live streaming of the WWE for 52 weeks, the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight (15 November), and the NFL in December.
Peters said that “it’s worth noting that our share of viewership in even our biggest countries is still less than 10 per cent of TV time. So we look at this as there’s a huge opportunity to grow that share by.. invest (ing) more in our slate, continue (ing) to improve the variety and quality of our offering.”
Additionally, it is continuing its push into the ad based free subscription service which grew 35 per cent in term of number viewers getting into it. This is being done through refining the tech in its back end platform , increasing the number of viewers signng up for it and coming up with new formats for advertising.
On the content front , Netflix Ted Sarandos said that Q3 had some big hits: Perfect Couple, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, and Nobody Wants This.
He added that “we’re really excited about our Q4 slate because it’s filled with great big titles from the U.S., from Brazil, from Korea, from the U.K., from Germany…. Carry-On, Piano Lesson, Spellbound, Six Triple Eight, Emilia Pérez. So when we look forward into 2025 and beyond, we want to build on that success So our 2025 slate, I look at that as another ambitious step towards this push to make us even greater for our members.
So looking into 2025, you’ve got new seasons of our biggest shows: Wednesday, Squid Games, Stranger Things, on top of new shows from Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy, a new Knives Out film from Ryan Johnson, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, even the return of Happy Gilmore. So we could not be more excited about where we sit right now and where we’re heading.”
iWorld
Micro-Dramas Surge in India, Redefining Mobile Content Habits
Meta-Ormax study maps rapid rise of short-form storytelling among 18–44 audiences.
MUMBAI: Micro-dramas aren’t just short, they’re the snack that ate Indian entertainment, and now everyone’s bingeing between the sofa cushions. Meta, in partnership with Ormax Media, has released ‘Micro Dramas: The India Story’, a comprehensive study unveiled at the inaugural Meta Marketing Summit: Micro-Drama Edition. The report maps how the vertical, bite-sized format is reshaping content consumption for mobile-first audiences aged 18–44 across 14 states.
Conducted between November 2025 and January 2026 through 50 in-depth interviews and 2,000 personal surveys, the research reveals that 65 per cent of viewers discovered micro-dramas within the last year proof of explosive adoption. Nearly 89 per cent encounter the format through social feeds and recommendations, making algorithm-driven discovery the primary engine rather than active search.
Key viewing patterns show a median of 3.5 hours per week (about 30 minutes daily) spread across 7–8 short sessions. Consumption peaks between 8 pm and midnight, with additional spikes during commutes and work breaks classic “in-between moments” that the format fills perfectly. Around 57 per cent of viewing happens in ambient mode (while doing something else), and 90 per cent is solo, enabling more intimate, personal storytelling.
Romance, family drama and comedy lead genre preferences. Audiences show growing openness to AI-generated content, 47 per cent find it unique and creative, while only 6 per cent say they would avoid it entirely. Regional languages are surging after Hindi and English, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada dominate consumption.
Meta, director, media & entertainment (India) Shweta Bajpai said, “Micro-drama isn’t a passing trend, it’s rewriting the rules of Indian entertainment. In under a year, an entirely new category of platforms has emerged, built audience habits from scratch, and created a business vertical that is scaling fast.”
Ormax Media founder-CEO Shailesh Kapoor added, “Micro-dramas are beginning to show the early signs of becoming a distinct content category in India’s digital entertainment landscape. When a format aligns closely with how audiences naturally engage with their devices, it has the potential to scale very quickly.”
The study proposes ecosystem-wide responsibility, universal signposting of commercial intent, shared accountability among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents, built-in safeguards, and formal media literacy in schools.
In a feed that never sleeps and a day that never stops, micro-dramas have slipped into the cracks of every spare minute turning 30-second stories into the new national pastime, one vertical swipe at a time.
