Netflix marches Into Europe

The investigators of the crime series “Tatort” will be unfamiliar to most viewers in the US. Not so in Germany , where the decades-old show has a hundred times more pull than “House of Cards.” That’s a challenge for Netflix Inc. as it pushes deeper into Europe.

In close to 1,000 episodes since 1970, “Tatort” has changed little — bodies are discovered, people are wrongfully suspected and through dogged investigation a last-ditch arrest is made — yet the show still regularly draws more than 10 million viewers on Sunday evenings. Netflix is even trying to license the show from public broadcaster ARD, according to two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are confidential.

As Netflix adds six countries this week, the world’s largest video-streaming service is getting a glimpse of what it’s up against. Polls in Europe’s biggest TV markets signal that local content — often available on free channels during prime time — consistently beats US blockbusters. While Netflix will have some local shows, the question is whether they’re good enough to get people to pay.

“Viewers will search for the shows they know, and if they can’t find them, they’ll never subscribe,” said Gilles Fontaine, an analyst at researcher Digiworld in Montpellier, France.

“House of Cards,” the award-winning political thriller that gave Netflix recognition as a video powerhouse, failed to break the one-million mark in Germany and was taken off ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG’s main channel Sat.1 last year. The second season averaged less than 100,000 viewers on affiliate channel ProSiebenMAXX.

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