In a recent interview to an online portal, Netflix’s Chief Marketing Officer Srivats TS noted that their film marketing campaigns are often pre-launch oriented while series are mostly post-launch focussed.
If Netflix is adapting this approach there must be some solid backing to do so. Let’s analyse.
This bifurcated approach by Netflix India where films are heavily front loaded with early promotions, and series rely on post-launch momentum, is both a reflection of market dynamics and at the same time is a calculated gamble.
Considering films first, Netflix follows aggressive pre-launch marketing with teasers, trailers, social media campaigns bombarding platforms like Instagram, Facebook and X, stars attending various interviews and press events and much more. And it kind of makes sense too because films are typically one-off experiences and they must create an immediate impact. Thus, Netflix India’s front heavy strategy tries to ensures more and more people stream the film on its debut weekend, which further enhances its visibility on the algorithm driven platform.
But then again there’s barely any strategy without flaws and this one has its too. This overhyping of the film before release at times might set the bar too high and result in the film’s failure if it under delivers. Moreover, this pre buzz approach leaves little room for long term engagements and therefore once the initial wave subsides, films are often lost into Netflix’s massive library. Kind of what happened to Netflix’s most latest launches like ‘Test’ and ‘Jewel Thief – The Heist Begins’.
Now for the series, Netflix India adopts a very contrasting strategy and leans heavily on post-launch momentum. With basic and minimal pre-release stuff, the real push comes after the show’s release and most of the time Netflix hasn’t got much to do in it. Good word of mouth, critical acclaim and social media buzz are the ones that drive the viewership. But Netflix very smartly steps in at this point to sustain this organic buzz long after launch with targeted ads, cast interviews, and behind-the-scenes content. Remember’Black Warrant’!
Much like in case of film this post launch strategy for series is once again keeping in line with content’s nature which is episodic here and benefits from prolonged engagement as viewers binge over weeks or months. Also, Netflix reduces any monetary wastage by responding according to audience’s reactions when it comes to series.
Then again there are cons to this strategy as well. Underpromoting a show before launch, specially the lesser known ones might result in diminishing their reach. For those not very regular with social media updates might not even know something came up. Moreover, the reliance on post-launch buzz assumes a show will resonate organically, a gamble that doesn’t always pay off. And because of this many a times a good yet lesser hyped show often goes unnoticed suggesting that some pre-launch groundwork is indeed necessary.
These diverse strategies aren’t just that and infact go on to show how we Indians consume content. Films with their shorter run time demand instant attention while series are meant for long term binge watching. There’s also the fact that Indian audience is heavily star-obsessed and socially active. Therefore films that often feature bigger celebrities rely more on early promotions to tap into the star frenzy whereas series are more about good stories that are enough to strike conversations online.
Overall, there is no doubt Netflix India has made an informed decision to adopt these specific marketing strategies after crunching a whole lot of data and it very well knows what works for what. And from a business perspective that’s how things work.
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