Indian matchmaking: How Bela Bajaria desi-fied Netflix

TOI correspondent from Washington: In the global contest to command the world’s attention, few executives have rewritten the rules of entertainment more forcefully than Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer. And she’s set to play an even bigger role if Netflix’s $82.7 billion bid for Warner Bros Discovery’s studios and streaming assets proves successful.Her life story — born to Indian parents in London, raised in Zambia, and transplanted to Los Angeles as a child — gave her an early understanding of cultural dislocation and the power of storytelling as a bridge.Bajaria, dubbed “Queen of Streaming” in a recent Forbes cover story, presides over Netflix’s $18bn content engine, steering programming across 190 countries, and making decisions that shape what over 300 million people stream on any given night.Bajaria’s guiding conviction is that local authenticity fuels global resonance. She championed the idea that audiences everywhere want to see themselves on screen — and deeply rooted local stories often travel further globally than manufactured international blends.

‘Squid Game’, ‘Delhi Crime’ result of Bajaria’s move to go local

The strategy proved prescient, producing global phenomena like ‘Squid Game’, ‘Delhi Crime’, and ‘La Casa de Papel’, and helping Netflix add more than 40 million subscribers in 2024, pushing revenue to $33.7 billion and profits past $10 billion.Nowhere has Bajaria’s influence been more transformative than in India, a market she approached not only with data but with cultural intuition derived from her heritage. With its 1.4 billion people, 65% of them under 35, and more than 800 million smartphone users, India presented both an enormous opportunity and a complex creative terrain. Bajaria rejected the notion of India as a single market; to her, it was “hundreds of markets within one”, each with its own languages, traditions, and narrative rhythms.When she joined Netflix in 2016, Indian programming was sporadic and experimental. By 2020, as head of Global TV, she had begun building a sustained pipeline of original Indian stories. “Sacred Games” became a breakthrough, a Hindi noir thriller whose gritty realism resonated far beyond South Asia and drew nearly 30 million global households in its first week.From there, India became one of Netflix’s most dynamic creative centres. ‘Delhi Crime’, now into its third season, made history as the nation’s first International Emmy winner. ‘Indian Matchmaking’ sparked worldwide memes and discourse. Youth-driven dramas like ‘Mismatched’ and ‘Class’ tapped into India’s massive GenZ population, while regionally rooted Tamil and Telugu thrillers expanded Netflix’s reach into South Indian markets.By 2025, Netflix was releasing more than 20 Indian originals a year, with vernacular output rising 40% annually. Bajaria deepened ties with the industry by signing multi-title deals with leading studios and nurturing collaborations with established auteurs and emerging talent alike. This ecosystem-first approach — favouring lasting creative partnerships over one-off projects — embedded Netflix firmly into Mumbai’s production culture. By 2025, Indian titles accounted for an estimated 15% of Netflix’s global top-10 viewing hours. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Heeramandi’ became a worldwide event, trending in over 40 countries. Hard-hitting dramas like ‘The Railway Men’ found audiences in the US and Europe.This rise of Indian content has unfolded against a broader reconfiguration of the theatrical film business. In Hollywood, the box office recovered somewhat post-pandemic but has remained fragile. Revenues reached roughly $8.7 billion in 2024 — below pre-Covid norms — but theatrical attendance is down nearly 40% from mid-2010s peaks. Mid-budget films increasingly bypass cinemas altogether, with streaming now generating the lion’s share of revenue for most releases. The theatrical market still thrives for franchise spectacles, but the middle of the market has been hollowed out by the convenience and scale of streaming platforms like Netflix.In Bollywood, the trajectory has been slightly different, according to industry analysts. India’s box office grew 27% in the first half of 2025, buoyed by South Indian blockbusters and pan-Indian hits. Annual revenues approached $2.5 billion, surpassing pre-pandemic benchmarks. At the same time, India’s OTT economy expanded even faster; digital rights deals often exceeded theatrical earnings, and the country’s streaming market — worth an estimated Rs 38,000 crore in 2024 — is projected to double by 2028.This evolving balance is now set against Netflix’s most consequential move yet: its $82.7 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros Discovery’s studios and streaming assets, announced last week. If the deal withstands antitrust scrutiny and a competing $108 billion hostile bid from Paramount, Netflix would absorb HBO, HBO Max, DC, and Harry Potter — one of the richest collections of intellectual property in entertainment history.As Bajaria guides Netflix into a future potentially enlarged by Warner Bros, the centre of gravity in global entertainment may shift once again — from Hollywood outward, from the West to a polyglot mosaic of creators, with India firmly at its core.