Netflix ‘Ships YouTube
YouTube is a vital social network for Netflix, because it fosters engagement between fans and the shows they love and facilitates discovery of new Netflix content. Because what is trending on YouTube is dominated by what Gen-Z (ages 13–24) watches, it is important for Netflix to build loyalty with this audience.
We were tasked with helping Netflix create content that taps into Gen-Z YouTube themes and behaviors in order for Netflix to gain views and grow subscribers. We approached the challenge by listening to and observing this particular fanbase which led to the creation of two repeatable video formats specific to what they were looking for.
Love at First Sight - Insights
Gen-Z females are super engagers with content—they comment, post, share, and create their own fan-derivative memes at far higher rates than any other group. From VSCO girls to E-girls and every girl in between, this group truly drives internet culture, which in turn drives relevancy and content interaction, fueling growth in content search rankings and ultimately views. Creating content that hits the sweet spot of engaging these internet culture advocates can have a significant impact on entertainment consumption.
Many Netflix films and series feature teen leads—from mega hits like Stranger Things to Rom-Com favorites like To All the Boys I've Loved Before and The Kissing Booth. The clip-based content Netflix was posting for these titles was performing well, but it was clear that fans wanted more of these swoon worthy romance storylines and were passionately speaking out for the couples they ‘ship.
Fans were eagerly blowing up the comments sections, supporting their favorite 'ships, proposing new ones, and even starting shipping wars.
It was evident from this substantial fan shipping chatter surrounding the Netflix heartthrobs that there was a need for Netflix to create specific YouTube content to super serve this emergent fan enthusiasm.
All You Need is Love - Approach
To help Netflix drive views and engagement with their targeted Gen-Z females, we knew our approach needed to focus on Netflix leaning into the relationship content that the fans craved and help them spark deeper engagement with these Netflix characters. This in turn would drive Netflix YouTube views, raise the profiles of Netflix film/series stars, and ultimately, create greater consumption of Netflix content.
Based on the shipping behaviors we found within the Gen-Z audience, we identified a massive cultural opportunity for Netflix to play into this trend and create relationship content around main Netflix talent. To be part of the Gen-Z in-crowd, we chose to have Netflix forgo the traditional brand perspective in favor of the “the best friend” angle and introduced two repeatable video formats to their YouTube channel—Battle of the Boyfriends and Love Story.
Battle of the Boyfriends: two hunky boyfriends from popular Netflix titles compete in a series of romantic challenges. The guys face off in categories like first impressions, swoon worthy moments, fatal flaws, and more. At the end, fans are prompted to vote in the comments on which boyfriend they deem the winner, sparking heated debates within the fandom often leading to shipping wars. Other popular comments begged Netflix to post battles they'd like to see next.
Love Story: shipping videos in the purest form. These look back at a Netflix couple's journey, highlighting all of their heartwarming and heartbreaking moments. Passionate fans filled the comments section with heart eye emojis and 'ship names, such as "Mileven" for Mike and Eleven in Stranger Things and "Deckerstar" for Chloe Decker and Lucifer Morningstar in Lucifer. Gen-Z fans were excited to see Netflix shipping and stanning their favorite couples alongside them and wanted Netflix to do more!
When You Find the One You’ll Know
Battle of the Boyfriends and Love Story proved to be top performers on the Netflix U.S. YouTube channel and still consistently bring in positive sentiment from our Gen-Z female fans. To date, fourteen individual pieces have been added to these ongoing series and are regularly rising to the top of views and content engagement, regardless of the IPs featured.
We've helped Netflix prove they're not just your standard brand trying to self-promote their content, but rather, an in-the-know fellow fan who can not only speak the Gen-Z language, but also understand their culture.
Love Wins - Results
By feeding the Gen-Z fandoms with the video content they are actively searching for, we have continued to help the Netflix U.S. YouTube channel grow subscribers and effectively engage with the female Gen-Z audience.
In total, our "shipping" efforts with these two video formats have earned Netflix YouTube over:
