Latin American television series on Netflix, local audiences, and the global search for the “authentic-exotic”

While much of the studies on the patterns of Netflix’s mode of operating focus on the algorithms that regulate the recommendations offered to viewers or on how the use of “high-tech” and big data processing affects the creative process of making television series, Netflix’s biggest investment decisions on contents production seem to arise from a mixture of demographic, market-oriented calculations, and the political intuition and skills of its executive directors. The production of Narcos was a game changer for Colombia’s audiovisual industry, and since then, several high-budget American films have been produced in the South American country. Colombian press covered with enthusiasm the arrival of Hollywood megastars such as Tom Cruise and Will Smith to the country and offered details on the flow of funds that each production injected in local economy. Club de Cuervos, a Mexican comedy series premiered in August 2015, was the first Spanish-language original series produced by Netflix.