In our previous episode of Stranger Things, we looked at how insight drives Netflix’s success. If you missed that post, you can read it here.
As we move through the DATA > INSIGHT > ACTION loop, this blog post deep-dives further into the ACTION aspect of Netflix’s data.
When we arrive at the Insights stage, 50% of the work has been done: Netflix has made an agreement with Stranger Things’ producers, defined the Stranger Things promotion roadmap and has the KPI framework setup. Now it’s time to create and execute the plan.
Netflix already knows who, when, where, what and how to target their subscribers even before spending money on the project. Of course, in reality, it’s a bit more complex than that, but crucially, Netflix is clear on the cost and timelines required to achieve the expected return on their investment.
In theory, there are 3 types of audiences here:
– FANS: Current subscribers who have been identified as perfect candidates to watch Stranger Things. For them, the cost of marketing activities per user will be relatively low as Netflix already knows that they have a high interest in this genre. According to Symphony AdvancedMedia, Stranger Things Season 1 averaged 8.2m viewers among adults aged 18-49 over the first 17 days. We can assume that most of these viewers belong to this audience set.
– CLIENTS: Current subscribers who don’t particularly show interest in Science Fiction-Horror programmes like Stranger Things. Here the marketing effort is higher than for fans, because Netflix has to convince them to watch, whereas the previous segment is already hooked. Using matchmaking and personalising the customer experience, Netflix can drive additional conversions, which also mean higher customer satisfaction and higher retention rates.
– PROSPECTS: Science Fiction-Horror fans who aren’t subscribers of Netflix. Converting this audience type will require a significant investment into marketing activities through social media, newspaper articles, physical and digital advertisement. The conversion will be lower, but every new subscription also means a bigger user base and therefore more revenue.
Conclusion
And there we have it. We hope our Stranger Things mini-series has been an enlightening read and has demonstrated how Netflix makes successful, critical decisions based on data.
Clearly, data cannot make every decision by itself; there are some situations where intuition must be used. This is why we prefer to talk about decision-making ‘tools’ rather than as technology that replaces humans – because it doesn’t, and it shouldn’t.
Using data to make decisions about your organisation’s next investment or to help you build a strategy is not restricted only to movie industry. This process can be mirrored across any type of business that wants to minimise risk and make more profit.
If our series has whet your appetite for more, and you want to become a data-driven organisation, find out more about how Acrotrend can support you on this journey.