LAS VEGAS — Netflix is expanding into 130 new countries on Wednesday, making its global reach nearly complete save a few key markets, Chief Reed Hastings said.
With the additions, the fast-growing video streaming service will be available in 190 countries.
It still isn’t streaming in China but would like to add it to its territory when it can, Hastings said at the CES electronics show here Wednesday.
New countries being added include Russia, India, Vietnam, Singapore Poland, Nigeria and Azerbaijan, Hastings said.
The new markets were going live “while you’re here listening to me,” Hastings told the crowd at the world’s largest trade show for the latest and greatest in technology.
To get the job done, Netflix has been tackling technical and regulatory hurdles, issues with payments systems and questions about differing consumer tastes around the world.
Shares of Netflix were up 5.8 percent, or $6.24, at $113.90 in afternoon trading on Wednesday.
Netflix’s massive expansion comes as investors are becoming increasingly concerned about rising competition from rival streaming services including Amazon and Hulu.
Netflix is also under pressure from movie studios who are demanding higher prices for premium content, and meanwhile holding back on some of the best shows as they look to form their own streaming services.
To counter this, Netflix has continued to ramp up production of movies and TV series of its own, shrugging off Wall Street’s concerns that they’re placing a heavier burden on the bottom line.
At Wednesday’s event, it touted the success of original series like “House of Cards” starring Kevin Spacey and “Master of None,” the quirky comedy created by Aziz Ansari.
Hastings made the announcement at the close of the splashy, hour-long presentation that included guest appearances by stars in current and future shows, including Chelsea Handler, Will Arnett, Krysten Ritter and Wagner Moura.
Netflix execs emphasized the message that the company is quickly becoming international and even multilingual as its expansion accelerates.
Maura, a Brazilian actor who plays Pablo Escobar on the hit Netflix series “Narcos,” noted that 80 percent of the show’s dialogue is in Spanish.
Viewers “are not buying Second World War shows where people are speaking English with a German accent,” Maura told Handler, who staged a mock version of her upcoming talk show.
Other Netflix series coming in 2016 include director Baz Luhrmann’s “The Get Down,” about the origins of hip-hop in the late 1970s and early 1980s; and “The Crown,” a biopic on Queen Elizabeth II.
While latter might be mistaken for a PBS production, it’s just one more example of Netflix’s increasingly global mindset when it comes to producing shows, President Ted Sarandos said.
“We’re at the start of a global revolution,” Hastings said, casting himself as a hero set on freeing TV watchers worldwide from cable bundles, rigid viewing schedules and commercial interruptions.