Netflix has been one of the companies within the “digital native” category that has benefitted positively from the current covid-19 period. Not just from the angle that many different forms of entertainment such as live events, gatherings and even cinemas are all closed due to potential spread of the virus, but also because they have utilised digital channels very positively to draw in both existing customers and new ones to their programmes.

Netflix is already well known in the industry and the top go-to paid entertainment channel for movies and drama, but they have been really clever in using alternative channels (not of their own) like Youtube and Facebook/ Instagram that are more far reaching to promote new content they are continuing to build and release.

So we might ask, just how many users are there across these various platforms?

• Netflix – 192Mn users
• Youtube – 2Bn users (More than 10X)
• Facebook – 4.8Bn users | Instagram – 1 Bn users (More than 24X)

So let’s take an example of a recent popular Korean drama that concluded in the 1st half of 2020, “Crash Landing on You”. The Swoon (Netflix’s channel on Youtube for K-drama and Asian drama) promoted it through trailers, memorable scenes and behind the scene footage. And it got many people talking and sharing these content, and looking forward to watching each episode as they were released. Given how many more users there are on the wider social network platforms such as Facebook and Youtube, such a strategy would have led to growth in subscribers and communities being built and engaged around the content.

Whats the overall effect of effectively using digital channels/ social networks?

(1) What we observe is in Singapore at least on the day-to-day is that many have started K-drama and continue to move from one to another, and these are common leisure topics amongst each other (even more so than the local television programmes)

(2) Netflix continues to reach out effectively to new users and subscribers (growth in subscribers) and effectively build followers communities around their content. You can see how this has moved from the chart below from <25Mn in 2011 to the close to 200Mn subscribers today, an almost 10X in the 10 years. This would likely not have been possible if they had relied on traditional word of mouth to grow.

I think such ability to grow at this pace is really uniquely possible in today’s digital era, so it is something to keep in mind.-

Are there any methods or experiments that your company could undertake to leverage on potential opportunities to unlock and accelerate such “10X” growth opportunities?