The President visits the Netflix facilities on the occasion of the platform's tenth anniversary in Spain

Tres Cantos (Madrid)

Group photo of the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his visit to the Netflix facilities (Pool Moncloa /Borja Puig de la Bellacasa)

The chief executive visited the Netflix facilities in Tres Cantos (Madrid), on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the streaming service in Spain. The visit was also attended by the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López. In his speech, Pedro Sánchez thanked Netflix for its firm commitment to the development of the Spanish audiovisual industry over the last decade. In fact, the company has announced an investment of €1 billion between 2025 and 2028 to continue promoting the audiovisual sector in Spain.

Pedro Sánchez stressed that the arrival of Netflix in Spain not only changed the way in which Spaniards watched films and series, but also "the way the world sees our country", because since then "thousands of professionals have dreamt, written, filmed and edited stories that today cross borders". As he said, they are "stories made in our language, with our accent, with our look. Stories with a Spanish soul that are born in our neighbourhoods, in our towns, on the magnificent set that is our country, and that end up conquering screens in Seoul, in Buenos Aires, in New York and a long list of cities all over the world".

He also highlighted the more than a thousand Spanish productions filmed in all the autonomous communities and cities, with dubbing and subtitles in Catalan, Basque and Galician, and the value of many shots and scenes that appear in the streaming service as "our best cultural and tourism promotion campaign". Specifically, Spanish productions on Netflix generated more than 5 billion hours of viewing in 2024. He also pointed out that four seasons of Spanish series and four films are among the top 10 most popular non-English language titles worldwide.

Spain, Europe's second largest film producer

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during his visit to the Netflix facilities | Pool Moncloa /Borja Puig de la Bellacasa

With regard to the progress of the Spanish audiovisual sector, Pedro Sánchez highlighted the "script twist worthy of the best Netflix series" achieved in recent years. He said that Spain "came from a long way back" and today "is one of the world leaders in soft power, at a time when we must build bridges". He pointed out that Spain is the fourth most influential country in terms of culture and heritage, and the cultural and creative industries already account for 2.3% of gross national added value, employing 770,000 people. "We have never had so many people working in these sectors, and the satisfaction is even greater knowing that much of this employment is vocational," he added.

In 2024 alone, a total of 376 feature films were produced in the audiovisual sector in Spain, 70% more than in 2020, showing the Government's "firm commitment to this sector". The chief executive valued the fact that more than 46% of these feature films were co-scripted or co-directed by women, and that Spain is already the second largest producer of European films after Italy. He added that Netflix contributes "decisively" to this "success", supporting the generation of more than 20,000 jobs and collaborating with more than 60 national production companies, mostly small and medium-sized enterprises.

Spain Audiovisual Hub: €3.3 billion to increase production

The Government's support to the sector is carried out through initiatives such as Spain Audiovisual Hub, which in its two phases has a budget of more than €3.3 billion, and which, through the promotion of public-private collaboration, is key to increasing audiovisual and video game production in Spain by 30%. "We are talking about attracting international investment and talent to build a powerful ecosystem that can compete on a level playing field with the big global markets," he added.

In this regard, Pedro Sánchez drew attention to Spanish talent, indicating that for the Government, inclusive training is key, which is why new grants for screenwriting were recently launched, with the emphasis on, among others, women screenwriters and co-official languages. He defended that "culture is above all freedom, because in a world where the new dark gurus seek to censor and impose, telling brave stories is an act of peaceful rebellion and a hymn to plurality". By way of conclusion, the president stated that "a few years ago, Spain took over the screens of half the world with La Casa de Papel. Today we have come to conquer them with one objective: that Spain be the home of cultures".

Non official translation