NETFLIX

INTRODUCTION

Netflix is the world’s leading streaming service for watching tv-series and films, with over 139 million subscribers from all over the world. This is very impressive, particularly when there are so many free streaming sites on the internet. What is it that leads to Netflix’s success?

Netflix was founded by Reed Hastings & Marc Randolph in 1997, where it originally was a mail service that allowed customers to buy and rent DVDs from the comfort of their own home. Other companies then started to offer the same service, making Netflix loose their touch. This led to Netflix introducing online streaming, which at the time was very uncommon and Netflix therefore faced a lot of heat for breaking with the traditional. However, it did not stop Netflix from being ahead of the game, as it was one of the first brands to introduce Facebook Connect, back in 2011, when other brands still were afraid of having a presence on social media.

BRAND EXPERIENCE

What Netflix does very well is to keep the focus on the content. Most of its adverts and campaigns are to promote and create engagement around a TV show or a new movie. In other words, Netflix does not use the brand name to sell its content, but it uses its content to sell its brand. In addition, Netflix uses data tracking and analytics to make the user experiences greater. The algorithm tracks what you are browsing, when you are browsing, what type of content you like, how often you pause, skip the intro etc. This helps Netflix further personalise the experience for its users, and byhighlighting content it suggests what a customer is more likely to enjoy. The data gathering also allows Netflix to fully optimize their marketing.

The information collected is used to create and add more of the content that it knows its viewers are interested in watching. This gives Netflix an advantage. Traditional television does not have this ability, and must choose content based on intuition or spend money on surveys etc. Through being an online service, Netflix is able to get to know the viewers extremely well. This came in handy when the streaming service started creating its own content; using all the data collected over time from its subscribers, Netflix was able to create original content with a certainty that it would be something its viewers would enjoy. In addition to making the viewers satisfied, the original content also created exclusivity.

Data collection, in particular the part concerning user behaviour, played a huge role in the promotion of the series House of Cards. For this series Netflix did not only create on trailer, instead they made 10 different cuts of the trailer and showed one of them based on the customer’s viewing habits. In other words, if you watched a lot of films/series with one particular actor that was featured in the House of Cards series, Netflix would show you the trailer with scenes featuring this particular actor. If you were more into action, it would show you the scenes with more action etc. Netflix uses the algorithms to determine who might enjoy the show, and then gather content accordingly so that it will be best received. To put it very short; Netflix is very good at knowing its audience

ONLINE

On social media Netflix has a very humorous style. Rather than posting several posts, they post less, but write posts that are creative and well thought trough and resonates with their target group. By making their content easy to share, as well as having a consistent, honest and witty brand voice, Netflix seems to have a way of making its content viral. Netflix creates content that is easily combined with the everyday conversations on social media, and is not afraid to take advantage of the current trends.

For example; Netflix uses the trend of creating memes and gifs through hosting a page were the audience can find funny gifs from their favorite Netflix series. The gifs and memes are easy to share, or download, hence they quickly get posted around on the different social media platforms. To put it in a different way, making content that is «tweetable» so that users can easily engage. Their witty and authentic conversation voice is also an important part in their virality success.

Another good example is when the term Netflix & Chill emerged in 2010/2011. Instead of dismissing it, Netflix embraced it and posted a Netflix and Chill meme on their Tumblr. This term has now been embedded into the pop-culture, and is referred to in songs and made its way into the Urban Dictionary. The fact that people use this term on social media gives Netflix free publicity via word-of-mouth.

As mentioned earlier, Netflix tracks and monitors their users, and uses the data to improve user experience. However, Netflix uses the humor of the unconventional streaming habits on social media in a witty way. Like calling out the 53 people who watched a Christmas prince every single day for the past 18 days. In addition to this Netflix also sent an email out to a person who had been using the service, streaming non-stop for a whole week, to check if he was fine.

The takeaway from Netflix’s brand voice is that sometimes having an authentic voice goes a long way. Instead of using a more formal approach like most companies, Netflix interacts with its users in a casual manner, similar to the language people use when they interact with each other online.

ORIGINALITY

Netflix’s use of content marketing is very successful due to the fact that they remember that content marketing is about creating a experience or a product that gets the conversation started, and gives the audience a possibility to interact and get engaged.

RATE ME

The original content has been promoted in a very creative way which makes the viewers curious and engaged even before the content is available. Particularly when promoting the series Black Mirror, Netflix used marketing methods that are quite unorthodox. When introducing season 3 of the series, Netflix launched an app called Rateme that is a version of the fictional app featured in one of the episodes. It is a Rating app that rates your social standing from a 1-5 scale. The users only provide the app with their handle, and it then generates a rating screen featuring an avatar and score which can be shared on social media. However, it is important to note that the app does not use any information from social media accounts, and the score and avatar is randomized.

NETFLIX SOCKS

After noticing that a lot of people were falling asleep while watching series, waking up many episodes ahead, Netflix announced the Netflix Socks project as an attempt to solve the problem. A smart socks accessory that could be used to sense if someone had fallen asleep was created. When it noticed that a user had dozed off, it sent a signal to the TV and paused the show. The purpose was to make sure that a user did not wake up several episodes ahead. Within days it had gone viral even without any public relations support. It won a Shorty award for creative use of technology, was written about on most major media sites, generated over a thousand tweets each day and helped Netflix to be seen as an innovator within entertainment. Releasing this product helped create a stronger ethos with the users, because Netflix showed that they were listening to their customers’ feedback.

NETFLIX VISTA

Netflix created a fake advertisement, promoting the new product Netflix Vista; a chip that could be implanted in the brain, allowing you to watch content anywhere in the world at any time. This was a reference to one of their episodes and the fake advert was referred to as «basically a new mini-episode» by The independent.

WEBTOOL
For the Netflix original series, Stranger things, Netflix created a web tool that allowed users to create content with the famous font from the show, and then share it with friends and post it on social media.

ADBLOCK

In addition to this Netflix pulled of a marketing stunt where they were targeting users with Adblock installed, with the purpose to unsettle the viewers. This was a very expensive stunt as it required Slate, Mashable and The Next Web to change their website’s source code so that the banner directly targeting Adblock users could be displayed.

NETFLIX WORLDWIDE

When Netflix started to expand beyond the US, it used a very traditional global marketing strategy. Netflix started its international expansion with Canada, a country that is located close to the US, has a similar culture, and therefore less challenges when it comes to foreignness. The next phase was a lot faster and extensive, where it expanded to around 50 countries. The countries were carefully chosen based on similarities, the availability of a broadband internet, and the presence of affluent users. After gaining experience from this expansion, Netflix introduced itself to 190 countries, and used the lessons learned to understand what marketing strategy people were more likely to respond to. Netflix has also had a big focus on adding more languages, and produce local content. The local content was not only seen as local-for-local but also as local-for-global. In other words, Netflix aimed to create local content that could attract audience beyond borders.

When expanding globally, Netflix made sure to form beneficial partnerships that would create a win-win situation. In some places, it teamed up with telecommunication companies and cable companies, to make the content a part of the existing offerings. One example of this is in Ireland, when Vodafone launched a TV service and a Netflix button was added to the remote control.

CHALLENGES

Although the Christmas Prince movie tweet mentioned earlier was mostly well received in a humorous way, it also faced a lot of critique. Several people referred to the tweet as «humblebragging», whilst others said that by writing «who hurt you?» Netflix was making moral judgements for the sake of a laugh. In addition to this, a lot of the people who found the tweet funny also referred to it as creepy.

Netflix also faced another challenge when they introduced a rise in its subscription fee in 2016, which resulted in a lot of angry customers and a lawsuit. In total the rise ended up costing the service around half a million customers. However, despite losing such a huge amount of customers, Netflix still experiencec an overall growth from 2016 to 2017.

Netflix's biggest controversy was when it introduced the VPN ban. The ban generated so much heat, and several people decided to boycott Netflix, posting publicly that they deleted their account. Even though 70% of the VPNs are still able to get passed the ban, Netflix reminds firm and refuses to back down.

Despite these challenges, Netflix keeps growing, which means it must be doing something right.

5 LESSONS TO LEARN FROM NETFLIX

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Netflix puts an effort into getting to know its audience and what they want.
BE CREATIVE & ENCOURGE ENGAGEMENT
Netflix uses creative ways of promotion with the goal to make users interact and engage with the content.
LISTEN TO YOUR AUDIENCE
Netflix listens to its users and take their concerns into account.
BE AUTHENTIC
Netflix uses a casual, authentic voice to communicate with its audience.
EMBRACE TRENDS
Netflix embraced pop-culture and trends, creating content that was easily shareable and gained a huge word-of-mouth.