iWorld
Inside Netflix India’s growing post-production infrastructure
MUMBAI: Netflix has always shown supremacy in content quality. After entering the Indian market in 2016, the Reed Hastings-led streaming service has created several high-quality originals including Sacred Games, Bard of Blood, Leila, Delhi Crime and Lust Stories. While emphasising on writing, direction, production, Netflix is not overlooking the oft-ignored segment in the industry – post-production. Currently, the over-the-top (OTT) platform is in the process of expanding its post-production team and growing the infrastructure.
“There have been some very big shifts in the industry and how we look at post-production. In the film days it was that transition going from black and white to colour. After that, we went digital from film. That was the next big shift. Now we are completely almost 99 per cent in the digital space. And that next big shift is the change in discipline going from feature films to episodic series of higher production value,” Netflix India post-production director Vijay Venkataramanan said in a recent interaction with Indiantelevision.com.
Talking about the big shift, Venkataramanan said that earlier people spent about a year or higher time making a feature film but with the series it needs to be delivered at an even better quality at the same time. Moreover, in contrast to typical feature films which typically would have one director, one editor and one visual effects facility, some shows have three directors, multiple editors and multiple visual effects teams working in parallel to meet timelines.
He also added that Netflix has an extensive deliverables list because the platform future-proofs its content to stand the test of time. The platform archives everything carefully so it can remaster and update it whenever the technology changes. Venkataramanan added that to be able to get that, the process has to start even before the script is written, putting a plan together of the workflow needed to be followed and how to budget.
“It’s not about how much time you get, it’s about how you use the time. Often we might get the same amount of time as a film, but then if you are structuring your crew better, hiring more people and hiring specialists for each genre, if you are not trying to economise by eliminating specialists or having one person to do the job of three persons, having dedicated specialist for each genre, you can use that time better. We get the same start date or delivery date but what we change is the factors in-between,” he also pointed out.
“In India, the post-production team is growing fast. We are nine people now. But if you look at the support teams of our operations, we have QC teams, our visual effects management team and then we have production technology support. So, we are close to 14. We are in the process of expanding the team because for us it’s important to have sufficient support within Netflix and it’s important to hire leaders in the industry,” he added further.
Notably, Netflix recently organised its first-of-a-kind workshop on post-production in Mumbai to train industry professionals on international standards and practices. It has brought in trainers from APostLab, Netflix professionals from the US and Korea and industry experts from India. The training was aimed at enhancing creative digital skills for the internet entertainment industry.
Venkataramanan said that while Netflix is a platform with the ability to stream content in 4K high dynamic range and Dolby Atmos in homes, the next step for the international streaming giant is to implement that same technology and finish its Indian content at that standard, format and specification. According to him, post-production is 50 per cent technical, 50 per cent creativity.
“Typically what we push for the budget is a minimum ten per cent of below the line budget for post-production. But this does not include visual effects cost because visual effect budgets change depending on the creative of the show. There is a huge difference in the scope of visual effect in a Bard of Blood and Bahubali. So the budget of visual effects is significantly high in Bahubali than Blood of Bard. That will also not include the budget for in-licensed music that you are taking. You can’t put pressure on post-production budget,” he added.
“When you are talking about post-production, you are specifically talking about those functions that tie into post-production and all the crew that are connected to post-production. But these are people who start operating even before you go into production. How do you set up editors, multiple teams of editors, having proper edit facilities, not a stadalone iMAC in the corner of production office but properly set editing rooms, budgeting for the DIT, sound mix, come under that ten per cent,” he added.
He also added that they keep working with the partners to make sure that money is spent wisely. But when there are savings, they don’t allow that money to go back to production, they put that money back into post-production to create a better product. He also gave an example of a feature film that they are working on for which they had a lot of savings. Instead of taking back that money, they used that money for the highest quality of delivery possible including going to 4K HDR from initially planned 4K SDR.
“Right now our post-production infrastructure is growing. One year ago, we had only two to three facilities that were capable of delivering to Netflix. After we engaged with the industry and gave them confidence that we will pay fairly and you can fearlessly go and invest in creating your pipeline and we are here to making this content, today we have 11 facilities across India that can deliver to us. It's growing even faster and the industry is responding to the content we are making. Our philosophy towards post-production is different and when people see that, the iwAndustry gets confident and then they partner,” he commented.
According to him, the challenge is not in terms of technology but how you are planning and budgeting for it. “The technical staff we can teach, our technicians are great. We have people who go to facilities and work with Technical staff and the entire team dedicated to facilities and helping guide them on how to upgrade their infrastructure. We have all these resources but it's important how we manage it efficiently. That’s the culture shift and we are making producers aware of how to use post-production properly respecting their skill set and making them aware of various stages of post-production,” he signed off.
iWorld
WhatsApp emerges as key commerce channel in India: Meta report
Whitepaper shows 77 per cent of purchases influenced by social media and shoppers spend 2.5 times more across channels
MUMBAI: If shopping once meant a stroll down the high street, today it begins with a scroll on a smartphone. India’s retail journey is being rewritten in real time, as consumers glide between Instagram Reels, WhatsApp chats and physical stores with barely a pause for thought. A new whitepaper by Meta in collaboration with the Retailers Association of India argues that this shift is not cosmetic but structural, powered by artificial intelligence, short form video, creators and conversational commerce.
The numbers underline the scale of the change.
Social media now influences 77 per cent of retail purchase decisions in India, with Meta’s platforms accounting for 96 per cent of social driven discovery. Discovery itself is increasingly passive and visual rather than deliberate and search led. As much as 97 per cent of consumers watch short form video daily, and 60 per cent of time spent on Facebook and Instagram is devoted to video content.
In other words, the shop window has moved to the feed.
The report highlights the growing dominance of the omnichannel shopper, a consumer who researches and buys fluidly across online and offline environments. More than 50 per cent of retail consumers research products online before purchasing in store. Equally, over 50 per cent browse in store before completing their purchase online.
This blended behaviour is lucrative. Shoppers who buy across channels spend 2.5 times more than single channel shoppers. When customers engage across multiple touchpoints, spending rises by as much as 73 per cent. For retailers, unified commerce is no longer a strategy slide. It is a revenue imperative.
Meta India director of E commerce and retail Meghna Apparao, urged brands to focus on three pillars: Reels and creators for authentic storytelling, omnichannel performance marketing to connect platforms, and WhatsApp as a personalised commerce channel. Hitesh Bhatt of RAI noted that the challenge is no longer adopting digital tools but integrating them to deliver measurable outcomes.
Artificial intelligence sits at the heart of this integration. Indian retailers using Meta’s omnichannel optimisation have recorded more than fourfold improvements in omnichannel return on ad spend. Businesses that integrated in store sales data through Meta’s Conversions API have reported Roas uplift ranging from 2 times to 5 times or more, alongside incremental sales growth of up to 9 times depending on category and market.
Integrated data strategies have also delivered revenue growth of up to 15 per cent, suggesting that when digital signals are tied to offline outcomes, marketing efficiency sharpens considerably.
Retailers are already putting this into practice. Reliance Digital has leaned into a Reels first strategy, working with regional creators to drive engagement and measurable business impact. Croma says Meta’s AI powered tools have enabled it to integrate offline data and activate performance marketing across touchpoints, strengthening both footfall and revenue across online and physical stores.
Trust is increasingly creator led. The report finds that 71 per cent of consumers make a purchase within a couple of days of seeing creator content on Meta’s technologies. Campaigns that leverage reels and creators have delivered 71 per cent higher brand intent lift and 19 per cent lower acquisition costs.
Micro and nano creators, in particular, are accelerating purchase decisions by embedding products into relatable, local narratives. Influence is no longer confined to celebrity endorsements. It is distributed, conversational and continuous.
If Instagram and Facebook drive discovery, WhatsApp is emerging as the conversion engine. According to the report, 72 per cent of product discovery now happens on WhatsApp. Retailers using business messaging and click to WhatsApp campaigns are seeing a 61 per cent average improvement in return on ad spend, a 62 per cent increase in leads and 22 per cent higher order values.
The implication is clear. Commerce is shifting from clicks to conversations. Discovery, purchase and post purchase support increasingly unfold within a single chat thread.
The whitepaper argues that omnichannel maturity will define competitiveness in Indian retail. Consumers no longer toggle between online and offline modes. They operate across both simultaneously, often within the same buying journey.
For brands, the task is no longer about being present on digital platforms. It is about stitching together discovery, data, conversation and store experience into a unified loop that can be measured in footfall, revenue and repeat purchase.
As India’s shoppers continue to scroll before they stroll, the retailers who align AI, creators and messaging into one seamless experience may find that the path to growth is less about adding new channels and more about connecting the ones they already have.
