Netflix to spend over $1bn on marketing in 2017

[Geosharing]

Information

Netflix to put $1bn into marketing

TV streaming company is to heavily invest in its marketing drives in 2017 to entice subscribers in a bid to drive it past the 100m members waypoint.
The company said during its first quarter announcement that it was going to heavily invest in the marketing behind its original shows such as season 5 (which was subsequently delayed to a Q2 release). For the $1bn it plans to spend on marketing, about 600% of that will be spent on content.
Furthermore the company said It was going to invest in programmatic ads to help it deliver “the right ad to the right person at the right time”.
The company has relied upon unusual marketing drives to garner attention around. Additionally, it will look to touch down with potential subscribers through its partners, underlining theWatchathon that ran in April as a prime example.
The company is reliant upon marketing to attract viewers to its exclusive content, to do so it will target potential cable cutters to attract a new generation of viewers still to make the leap to its archives. In the first quarter of 2017, it added $2.5bn of revenue, in addition to attracting 5 million new members, bringing the total to 98.75m.
Along with the announcement, the company announced that it has renewed its deal with Adam Sandler to produce four new films, on the back of news that since joining subscribers have watched half a billion hours of his original content.

[Geosharing]

Netflix has surprised analysts on the upside with a greater than expected jump in subscriber numbers, leaping to 104m globally on the back of successful home grown shows such as Stranger Things and Black Mirror.


The online streaming leader also saw revenues adopt a concurrent upward tack on the back of its larger audience share while Netflix shares also responded in kind, posting a double digit increase after the second quarter performance was publicized.


In a letter to shareholders company bosses observed: “The largely exclusive nature of each service's content means that we are not direct substitutes for each other, but rather complements.


"The shift from linear TV to on-demand viewing is so big and there is so much leisure time, many internet TV services will be successful."


Over the quarter Netflix added 5.2m new members, predominantly drawn from international territories, propelling the company to a healthy 32% rise in revenues which reached $2.8bn over the period.


Netflix’s international subscriber base is now on a par with that of the US, vindicating Nerflix’s global growth strategy. In Europe this has seen it expand its marketing team by 400 and commission two new original series.