The Netflix Effect: how to make binge-worthy content

Is what’s in your Netflix cue more or less exciting than what’s in your content marketing and editorial calendars? If Netflix wins that battle (which, let’s be honest, come this weekend it will), then maybe you should consider the art and science behind the binge watching phenomenon taking hold over us all. As journalist Raju Mudhar wrote, “Entertainment is fast becoming an all-you-can-eat buffet. Call it the Netflix effect.” In 2013, Netflix released all 15 episodes of season 4 of Arrested Development at the same time, seven years after the show was cancelled. Reports show that within the first 24 hours, 10% of viewers had already made it through the entire season. Do your fans consume your content this quickly and with such fervor? Before you dive headfirst into your next weekend binge, consider these 3 tips to make your corporate content as binge worthy as Netflix’s hottest new series:

1)     High Value Productions:

With such a high production value, there’s no secret to why many of these shows are so successful. It’s obvious that a lot of time, effort —  and, yes, money — went into the creation of what you as a fan are about to consume. And let’s face it, we like the attention to detail! That movie-theater like experience is now available wherever you are, on demand, to be consumed at your leisure. Do the same with your content — if you’re making something that you’re going to share with the world, make sure it’s something that would make your momma proud! High value creative content does not necessarily require a big budget, but it does give fans the feeling that a lot of care and consideration went into creating the piece they are about to consume. In this case, less is more. While marketers need to feed the content machine on a daily basis, make sure you have at least 1 “high value” campaign per quarter. In this vein, we’re predicting that webinar marketing itself will get a facelift this year to keep up.

2)     Anticipation and Consistency:

Tease it and tease it some more! Part of the fun of a binge watching weekend around the release of a new season of your favorite show is in the anticipation. Consider how far in advance Netflix releases short trailers for new seasons of its big shows like Game of Thrones. The first promotion for its fifth season, which is scheduled to premiere on April 24, 2016, was a teaser poster on November 23, 2015, and a 41-second teaser trailer released on December 3, 2015. Getting people excited about content that is perhaps not yet fully done whets their appetite and keeps them talking about you and your brand, days (and in this case, months) ahead of when your campaign or content actually is released. At ON24, we have started creating trailers for our monthly webinars to get attendees excited to tune in come go-live day. We embed these videos in our registration pages, but they have proven to be a useful asset to include in our social campaigns as well, giving the audience a taste for what is to come across a variety of platforms.  

3)     Consumption Journey:

Key to the binge-watching phenomenon is the fact that the next show starts 15 seconds after the previous one ends, giving you time to opt out if you like — but who does? Once fans engage with one piece of content (a Netflix show, trailer, infographic, etc.) what happens next? Is there another piece waiting for them to read, watch, share, or talk about? Make their consumption journey easy, fun, and clear to follow and they will be likely to continue engaging with you. As marketers, this could look like a landing page that has multiple pieces of content to consume as you scroll through it, with a form fill to continue to receive information on a continuing basis. Or, in the case of our webinars, this takes the form of interactive content that fans can engage with after it’s over (on-demand replays and wrap up blog posts) and even during the course of the webinar itself (Q&A, twitter conversations, polling, and collaborative workspaces).

When you consider how much content your company is creating and where it lies in the larger content ecosystem, it’s imperative to get it to stand out so much that people can’t stop consuming it. What other tips do you use to make your content as binge-worthy as your favorite show?