Netflix's chief content officer receives Variety and Mipcom's Vanguard Award for contributions to the global marketplace on Oct. 12 Bela Bajaria was a few months into her job as the leader of Netflix’s international content expansion campaign in 2019 when she fully realized the significance of the opportunity ahead. The production of local original content was not destined to be a side business for Netflix — it is the business, and increasingly so as the world’s largest subscription streaming platform relies on growth outside the U.S. to drive future profits. Netflix’s oft-stated goal is to be the platform that has something for every subscriber and every viewing mood — morning, noon and night.
By that definition, Netflix has to invest enormous resources in programs, films and events that matter to subscribers. And that can’t be done all in English for a global subscription platform that reaches 190-plus countries (and transacts business in 45 currencies). For the extraordinary contributions made by Netflix to the global content landscape, Bajaria will receive the Vanguard Award from Variety and Mipcom during the international content marketplace and summit that runs Oct. 12-15 in Cannes.
The kudo will be presented at the Palais des Festivals on Oct. 12 and will include an onstage conversation with Cynthia Littleton, Variety’s co-editor in chief. The streamer produces TV and original movies in 50 different languages for more than 50 countries. It also commissions thousands of hours of local-language content each year.
Shonda Rhimes, the powerhouse show runner who signed on with Netflix in 2017, calls Bajaria “decisive” and “frank” in ways that mesh well with her own style. Especially in this era we’re in with television, and everybody’s feeling so uncertain, it’s very rare to spend time with a decisive person like that,” Rhimes tells Variety. Bela’s that person.” Bajaria came to Netflix in 2016 to spearhead the streamer’s push into unscripted content.
That was a big professional shift for someone who’d spent most of her career in scripted TV, over more than 15 years at CBS and later as the head of NBC’s Universal Television. Bajaria grew up in London and in Zambia before her family relocated to Torrance when she was 9. In 2019, when she was promoted to lead Netflix’s international originals strategy, Bajaria seized the unique chance to assemble a worldwide network of content hubs.
Bajaria got out her passport and hit the road (and the skies) to meet with producers and executives in far-flung corners. It was exhilarating, she recalls. Her travel schedule has not let up since.
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