📺 The brilliance of Netflix's marketing strategy!
Netflix's marketing strategy is a big reason behind the streaming giants HUGE impact. So, let's break it down!
Netflix has had a LEGENDARY run so far!
It has given us some iconic television over the years. Think of the most recent TV HITS — Queen's Gambit, Squid Games, Bridgerton, Black Mirror, Stranger Things — It's all Netflix!
Netflix has quickly acquired a crazy 222M subscribers. And, during the Covid lockdown, it made $30B in revenue!
On top of that, it pivoted from a small DVD rental service to a billion-dollar streaming giant. And, while doing so, knocked Blockbuster into bankruptcy!
So, basically, it's Netflix's world and we are just living in it 🙃
But, out of the many gifts Netflix has given us, the concept of binging surely takes the cake.
"Netflix and Chill" has not only changed the entertainment industry but also our lives.
A big reason behind their impact is their absolutely BRILLIANT marketing strategy. So, today we are going to cover just that. Let's go 🚀
Netflix's many pivots to binging!
Startups rarely survive for multiple decades while pivoting their business models into unknown waters and taking large risky bets on the future. But, Netflix is the BIG exception in this case!
A typical disruptor, it started out as a DVD-by-mail rental service, challenging Blockbuster's business model. Soon it introduced its subscription service model, a switch from the traditional renting of VHS tapes.
Although the subscription model was an unprecedented and a huge bet, Netflix knew that it won't be mailing DVDs to users for the next 100 years.
So, what could be the next goalpost? Well, Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO, always had a hunch that most entertainment content in the next decade would be consumed directly on the internet. So, they placed their faith in streaming!
Initially, it started out as a streaming platform that licensed movies from production houses. Similar to how a music streaming platform like Spotify licenses music catalogs from record labels.
But, this model was intrinsically flawed. You see, Netflix could only license movies after a year from theater release. That too for a mere 12-18 months till it went to "free TV".
So, what now? Well, Netflix was in a tough spot. So, it turned to what it learned during its DVD rental days.
Back in the late 1900s and early 2000s people rented DVDs for seasonal content, for example, TV series like Friends and Seinfeld, to binge them continuously episode after episode.
Netflix thought to themselves, why not replicate this model. So, they shifted their main focus from licensing movies to TV series and releasing the entire content catalog on-demand, on-go.
This essentially gave birth to binge-watching!
The world of Netflix and Chill!
Now, here's the catch - the concept of binge-watching was not a previously tested concept in entertainment. It was very much a Netflix-only phenomenon.
Apart from this, Netflix also had another problem. As the streaming space would eventually grow, more powerful players, especially production companies were bound to enter the market. So, Netflix had to be prepared.
In 2013, Netflix pivoted once again to become a full-fledged production company that creates original content. And, their first project was House of Cards.
Netflix spent a whopping $100M on this project with no guarantee of success. But, their bets, as we know, paid off. And, so did the bet of binge-watching.
This worked out perfectly for Netflix given its entire bet relied on more user subscriptions. How? Well, let me explain.
You see, from their early days, Netflix made money from users subscribing to their platform. Once they are subscribed they can pretty much watch anything, for however long.
So, Netflix's main goal was always to create an attractive streaming brand. Licensed content didn't help much with that. But, the added publicity aspect of "House of Cards by Netflix" surely helped promote Netflix as well as the show.
Since becoming a production house, Netflix's emphasis on content, be it for its original series or for marketing, has increasingly gone up.
For Netflix, Content is King!
So, the main Netflix marketing strategy is around content. We are going to cover a few of these marketing strategies!
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Cheers!
Hrishikesh