Tracksuits from The Squid Game , 80s products from Stranger Things or the masks and jumpsuits from La casa de papel . For fans of these series, all these products are potential objects of desire, things that they would be more than willing to buy. Netflix is going to take the products derived from its series to physical points of sale, which are also spaces for mass consumption.
The company has just partnered with Walmart, the distribution giant in the United States, to distribute its merchandising. They will do so in the giant’s online store and will give access to all kinds of products linked to its most successful series. It will be called Netflix Hub and it will function as a department linked to the brand in a specific way.
“We want to continue to meet with fans wherever he is, either through our largest online marketplace at Walmart or more cured and boutique Netflix.shop”, says to The Wall Street Journal Josh Simon, vice president of consumer products from Netflix. Stranger Things or The Squid Game are the first series to go through the merchandising screen.
Simon assures that the store and the products will work by reaffirming the emotional connection with the brand: “The real value is in reinforcing the love of the fans for the shows and movies they see on Netflix.” But, as they point out in the Journal , these products are going to become one more source of income, one that Netflix needs to go beyond what it earns directly from the content and subscriptions to watch it.
In fact, Netflix has already been working on the idea of monetizing its series with derivative products throughout the year. A few months ago, he launched his own online store . In it, specific collections of products from some of its most popular series are for sale.
The Disney model
For other brands, this idea has worked very well. You just have to think about the pull that Baby Yoda had at the time and how it has since become a machine to make money through products. For Disney, Baby Yoda was the latest example of the importance of merchandising and branded products.
The key to Disney’s business model is not only in the content it launches, but in everything that makes the consumer buy linked to it. There are the theme parks, the products that their brand licenses and in which they co-branding or the collections of all kinds of merchandising linked to their characters.
Only Mickey Mouse has a billion dollar brand value because of it. If Netflix manages to create something equivalent to a quarter of that universe of merchandising and branded products, it will already have a considerable source of income.
For now, Netflix is not giving specific data on how much money this emerging division moves, as pointed out in the Journal . Taking into account the power of its series and its impact on consumption patterns, its high potential can be understood. The Bridgertons’ success sent corset sales soaring, and Lupin’s success brought the original books back to the bookstore novelty tables a century after their original publication.