Throughout 2016, I worked as a research assistant for Dr Ramon Lobato on his project “Geoblocking, circumvention and the organisation of digital media markets.” One of my roles was to prepare a dossier concerning the reactions to Netflix in Japan, summarising key issues and debates surrounding streaming services in Japan more broadly. Through this work, I became a member of the Netflix Research Consortium.

This dossier has recently been published on the Netflix Research Consortium’s homepage. You can find the full dossier here. (NB: I feel that some of this information might be a little bit out of date now, since it is mostly based on data gathered in late 2015).

The key takeaways of the dossier are

• Netflix does not align well with audience expectations and viewing habits in Japan.

• Viewing of broadcast and terrestrial television remains high. Japan’s media marketplace continues to be dominated by “old” TV institutions.

• There is a broad opinion in Japan that Netflix is “foreign”, despite Netflix Japan’s commitment to producing original Japanese content

A number of dossiers for other countries covered by the various members of the Netflix Research Consortium can be found here.