Ted Sarandos announces in Madrid before Pedro Sánchez that Netflix will invest €1 billion in Spain.

A birthday and many staggering numbers. That could be a hasty summary of a day dedicated to celebrating the virtues, industries, and exploits of the algorithm—the Netflix algorithm. Ten years ago, the streaming company, just over 27 years old, established itself in Spain. A little later, in April 2019, it opened its first European production and post-production center in the Madrid town of Tres Cantos. And today, Netflix, with 700 million viewers in more than 190 countries, can boast that the entire world consumes more than 5 billion hours of Netflix content created directly in Spain (the company's own calculations). Therefore, in the presence of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Service Óscar López, the company's CEO (co-CEO), the almighty Ted Sarandos, announced an investment of 1 billion (one trillion, according to the Anglo-Saxon way of counting) in Spain between 2025 and 2028. The announcement was made in the platform's Madrid studios in the presence of Pedro Sánchez.

"We've filmed in more than 200 cities and towns across all the autonomous communities, bringing an extraordinary diversity of perspectives to the screen. Furthermore, what we've produced has had a real economic impact in many parts of the country and has helped generate more than 20,000 jobs in the Spanish audiovisual sector," Sarandos added, never putting his calculator down and reviewing some of the most notable achievements made in Spain . And then, one by one, the most relevant Spanish productions appeared in a unique tour of the different autonomous communities. "Our first original Spanish series, Cable Girls, was filmed right here, on the streets of Madrid," he said. He continued: " The Snow Girl was filmed in Andalusia; Nowhere was filmed on the beaches of Sitges; and The Whole Truth of My Lies is currently being filmed in Murcia." For last, he left the most global and obvious of all: "From Dalí masks and red jumpsuits to Bella Ciao , Spanish productions have become part of popular culture around the world." He was obviously referring to Money Heist , that is, Money Heist . "Since 2017, we've released more than a thousand Spanish titles," he concluded, in a veritable back-and-forth of round numbers.

Sánchez responded with a reply and thanked him. Thank you first, truly, and then the rest. He spoke of his commitment to a growing industry (and even more so to the promised investment), he spoke of the direct economy and jobs, and he spoke of the consequences of all of the above. "Netflix has changed the way the world sees our country. With stories made in our language, in Spanish, with our accent and our perspective, with stories born in our neighborhoods and cities, Netflix has conquered screens all over the world, and in this way, the platform has been a source of knowledge for the entire country and, therefore, an incentive for tourism," he said. But not only that. After praising the achievements of Spanish production (four of the ten most-watched films are Spanish) and highlighting the importance of the fact that 46% of scripts are currently written by women, the president highlighted the power of, precisely, soft power. "Culture is entertainment," he said, "and it's also education. Culture is seeing the world with new eyes, and culture is freedom." And here he paused, and the president pointed his finger: "Culture is the opposite of what the new gurus who seek to censor and impose their vision say." And against that, he concluded, there's nothing like "telling brave stories in a tribute to plurality" as a preliminary step to "building bridges and strengthening dialogue with inclusive education."

And all this, just after Sarandos praised his technical teams ("an international reference: 22,000 square meters, ten first-class sets, a pioneering post-production center and an unparalleled work environment"), congratulated himself on the talent of the creators ("Some of the best filmmakers in Spain have shot some of our most beloved titles here: The Snow Society, by Juan Antonio Bayona, which won 12 Goya Awards; Elite , by Carlos Montero, which is our longest-running series in Spain; or also Money Heist, Berlin or, soon, Atomic Shelter, by Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato, which we will premiere this year") and left for the end the promise to continue sharing with the world "the cultural wealth of Spain" at a cost of, in effect, 1 billion euros more.