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Next episode, next market: Social media marketing for SVoD, the case of
Netflix

Article · May 2020

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NEXT EPISODE, NEXT MARKET:

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FOR SVOD:
THE CASE OF NETFLIX

Elisa Paz Pérez

ABSTRACT: Media consumption has evolved toward SVOD services through which people
can choose what to watch, when and where to watch it, and share their experience through
social media, which is known as social television. The key player in this scenario is Netflix,
which has established itself as the industry referent. Considering this new context, how these
services engage with users on different platforms is essential to their marketing strategy, since
it allows for a two-way communication, increases awareness and positioning of the brand,
and maintains loyalty. This article analyzes social media accounts of Netflix in the United
States, which is where the headquarters of the company are, and Spain, which is one of the
last countries to which the company has expanded. This allows for a clear analysis of how
the company engages with users, a comparison between established and relatively new social
media strategies and assessing if different cultural contexts impact strategy. In order to do so,
data from Netflix US and Spain social media accounts is retrieved and analyzed following
a content analysis method. Preliminary results show that both cases show signs of brand
marketing presenting a consistent identity and there is a strong focus on the company’s own-
produced content. However, there is also significant difference between both territories. While
accounts of the United States tend to embrace UGC more often than Spanish ones, specific
cultural context has a greater impact on Spanish accounts, which could imply a stronger effort
to engage users when adapting to new markets.

KEYWORDS: SVOD, social media, social television, marketing, Netflix

CONTEXT: SVOD CONSUMPTION AND SOCIAL TELEVISION

A
s media evolves, the ways viewers watch, interact with, and talk about that media changes
too. In the contemporary digital and technological world, the consumer engages with
media and media products in a very different way than 50 years ago. Traditional forms
of broadcast implied having and planning a rigid schedule of daytime and primetime programs

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which consumers viewed and discussed with people from their environment. This has drastically
changed in both aspects: consuming and sharing.

As to the first one of this aspects, contemporary media consumers are used to having access to a
lot of media and streaming content for them to watch when and where they see convenient. There
has been a shift from traditional live broadcasts or shared consumption, which are, of course, still
available, to individual watching and subscription video on demand services (SVOD services).
These services offer a wide catalogue of media products to which viewers have access 24/7 on
television as well as several mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops…). This allows for a
more independent and mobile form of consumption as a result of the technology available: the
options for devices through which you can access this type of content have multiplied, and the
speed available for guaranteeing the best possible quality is also a concern for both the industry
and consumers.

Besides, this new form of consumption has further impacted viewing habits of society introducing
a new term formerly reserved for drinking and eating, which is binge-watching. Binge-watching
refers to the practice of watching several episodes of the same television show in one sitting
(Jenner, 2014; Matrix, 2014). This new viewing habit has shaped the preferences of consumers
in terms of content and how to watch it, and the industry has reacted to that. For instance, the
industry’s reference company for SVOD services, Netflix, has added a “skip intro” button for
allowing consumers to rapidly access the content of the show that they are binge-watching. Also,
the platform automatically starts playing the next episode a few seconds after the one that you are
watching is over, so the viewer does not have to move or click any button to keep watching. This
facilitates the practice of binge-watching, which is usually associated with Netflix itself (Matrix,
2014).

As aforementioned, the shifts in consumption implying more individual watching and SVOD
services and all they entail, it is also pertinent to have a look at the new ways of sharing these
experiences, which is usually done through social media platforms.

Social networks on the spotlight: sharing the experience

In relation to this new form of consumption, the expansion and role of social media sites acquires
a renewed interest and perspective. These platforms where once conceived as a way of connecting
people, family and friends keeping in touch through technology (Humphreys, 2012; Wellman,
2004). Nowadays, social networks are used for far more than that: you can follow celebrities,
brands, companies, strangers who share the same hobby as you, you can use them to keep yourself
up to date with current issues, political matters, organize events, expose your work, search or
offer professional opportunities… In this sense, a new social concept has arisen: social television.

Television has always had a social dimension to it, whether by sharing the experience with more
people or as a popular source of conversation (Nathan et al., 2008; Wohn & Na, 2011). With
new technologies available, this social dimension has moved from bars and home spaces to
the internet and social media platforms (Guo, 2018; Quintas-Froufe & González-Neira, 2014).
Through these platforms, especially Twitter, both industry stakeholders and viewers gather
around hashtags and posted content to share their impressions about what they are watching,
ask questions, interact with one another, trying to attract more viewers or simply voice one’s

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experience. From an industry perspective, broadcasters and SVOD services try to control the
conversation and be at the center of the social discussion that is taking place (Delgado, Navarro,
Garcia-Muñoz, LLuís, & Paz, 2018), while consumers try to share their viewing habits with their
followers, their impressions about the content, create or consume humorous content, or engage
with the production and acquire more information (Pena, 2015; Wohn & Na, 2011).

In this sense, social networks have become one major element for media production companies
to communicate with their prospects and clients using media-related language (Fernández-
Gómez & Martín-Quevedo, 2018). This is of significant relevance regarding SVOD services
since the viewing habits of consumers are shifting towards this model of consumption. Besides,
these platforms also make an interest use of new technologies for offering their services, hence,
assessing whether they are as successful taking care of their digital communications can offer
richer insights.

METHODOLOGY

In the particular case of this case study, the social media marketing strategy of Netflix is
addressed in two different markets: the United States, on one hand, in which the company has
been successfully established for several years, and the Spanish market, on the other hand, which
is one of the latest markets of expansion for the company.

This allows for a clear analysis of how the company engages with users, a comparison between
established and relatively new social media strategies and assessing if different cultural contexts
impact strategy. In order to do so, data from Netflix US and Spain social media accounts is
retrieved and analyzed following a content analysis method.

Facebook has been excluded from the sample due to restriction for accessing the American profile
of the company. Hence, the main social network accounts that have been retrieved are Twitter and
Instagram although the first one of them is usually more regarded as a second-screen platform
(Bruns & Burgess, 2011). However, this project is not as focused on the social discussion, in spite
of acknowledging that it exists, but rather focused on how the company uses its social networks
and if this aspect differs from one market to another.

In order to assess that, a content analysis is carried out to distinguish the type of content posted
on different social media accounts (if it is original content or user-generated as well as the type of
content itself, this is, (1) promotional, (2) informative, (3) culture-related, or (4) external) and the
intention of this content (which can be (1) to inform, (2) humorous, (3) call-to-action).

The content analysis focuses on a period of three months (from November 2019 to January 2020).
The most popular content posted on both platforms has been analyzed. For Instagram, the top 90
posts from each account have been collected, in terms of likes. The same logic has been applied
for Twitter, with over 3,000 tweets from both accounts being retrieved. In the latter case, the
criteria excludes retweets and number of likes, and rather focuses on original tweets posted by
the account and retweets, which imply a higher level of engagement than likes in this particular
platform.

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RESULTS

Type of content (promotional, informative, cultural, external)

In general, both accounts mainly post promotional content in similar percentage and a similar
use of platforms can be observed, with this type of content being overwhelmingly present on
Instagram’s posts. There are no significant differences to be highlighted in terms of platform, in
spite of the existing differences between Twitter and Instagram.

Quantitatively, the main difference that can be highlighted in terms of territory is that the Spanish
account of Netflix engages more in cultural content than the North American account, both on
Twitter and Instagram.

Besides, the nature of the content also seems to differ from one country to another on Instagram.
On this platform, the Spanish account posts screenshots from their Twitter account quite often,
whereas the United States’ account is more focused on posting interviews and original videos
featuring actors who appear on their streaming catalog.

Table 1: Type of content posted on Twitter

US Spain
Promotion 66,7% 60%
Information 15,5% 17,8%
Culture 17,8% 22,2%
External 0% 0%

Table 2: Type of content posted on Instagram

US Spain
Promotion 77% 82%
Information 22% 16%
Culture 0% 2%
External 1% 0%

Intention of content (inform, humor, CTA)

As abovementioned, the differences that can be found between platforms is not very significant.
However, there is a relevant distinction between both accounts as to what is the intention of the
posted content.

In both cases, Twitter and Instagram posts, Spanish accounts show a tendency of being dominantly
humorous (60% of the times on Twitter and 51% on Instagram), as well as trying to engage and
interact more with users through calls-to-action (5,6% on Twitter and 9% on Instagram).

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Table 3: Intention of content posted on Twitter

US Spain
Inform 61,1% 36,7%
Humor 36,7% 60%
CTA 2,2% 5,6%

Table 4: Intention of content posted on Instagram

US Spain
Inform 60% 40%
Humor 40% 51%
CTA 0% 9%

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The fact that both accounts use their platforms to predominantly share promotional content
indicates great efforts towards a strong brand marketing strategy, presenting a consistent identity
through different social network platforms. Besides, there is a strong focus on the company’s
own-produced content. This is common for the social media strategy of both the account in the
United States and the one operating from Spain, as well as having a creative approach to promote
and inform about series through social media language, such as hashtags and visual resources
(Fernández-Gómez & Martín-Quevedo, 2018).

However, there is also significant difference between both territories, particularly in terms
of intention when posting this content. While accounts of the United States tend to be more
informative about the content that they post (usually releasing premiere dates for their content),
Spanish accounts share more content with the intention of being humorous. This difference
happens on both Twitter and Instagram, although in the latter platform is even more highlighted.
Besides, specific cultural context has a greater impact on Spanish accounts, which could imply
a stronger effort to engage users when adapting to new markets, at least in this particular case.

The general conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that although brand marketing is
the strategy guiding both accounts, which predominantly share promotional content, the one in
the United States performs more of an informative role while the Spanish strategy revolves more
around humor and calls-to-action.

Future studies can include a more extensive sample or more in-depth methodological study to
build on this study’s current literature and discoveries about corporate marketing strategies on
social media, which is a field of study of the utmost relevance in contemporary research.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Bruns, A. & Burgess, J. (2011) The Use of Twitter Hashtags in the Formation of Ad Hoc
Publics. Proceedings of the 6th European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General
Conference. Reykjavik.

2. Delgado, M., Navarro, C., Garcia-Muñoz, N., LLuís, P. & Paz, E. (2018) TV news and social
audience in Europe (EU5): On-screen and Twitter Strategies. Observatorio (OBS*), 12(4).
https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS12420181317.

3. Fernández-Gómez, E. & Martín-Quevedo, J. (2018) La estrategia de engagement de Netflix

España en Twitter. El Profesional de La Información, 27(6), 1292–1302. https://doi.
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4. Guo, M. (2018) How Television Viewers Use Social Media to Engage with Programming: The
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5. Humphreys, L. (2012) Connecting, Coordinating, Cataloguing: Communicative Practices

on Mobile Social Networks. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 56(4), 494–510.
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6. Jenner, M. (2014) Is this TVIV? On Netflix, TVIII and binge-watching. New Media & Society,
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7. Matrix, S. (2014) The Netflix Effect: Teens, Binge Watching, and On-Demand Digital Media
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8. Nathan, M., Harrison, C., Yarosh, S., Terveen, L., Stead, L. & Amento, B. (2008) CollaboraTV:
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9. Pena, L. (2015) Breaking Binge: Exploring The Effects Of Binge Watching On Television Viewer
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12. Wohn, D. Y. & Na, E.-K. (2011) Tweeting about TV: Sharing television viewing experiences via
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Elisa Paz Pérez, PhD candidate, is a lecturer in Media and Marketing
at EU Business School, Barcelona Campus.

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