Image: Wednesday, Netflix
Netflix’s Geeked week recently ran from September 16th-19th where the streaming service had the opportunity to celebrate their most popular shows whilst also advertising their new and upcoming projects. It has been described as a “mini comic con” and is an excellent marketing strategy to generate interest in the Netflix projects currently in production. Mostly online, this event is accessible to all and so has grown in popularity since 2021.
Netflix gifted fans with some interesting sneak peaks, including behind the scenes insights into Wednesday Season 2, Sandman Season 2 and Stranger Things season 5. In addition, Netflix chose this week to drop some trailers for much anticipated shows, including Netflix’s most watched show of all time, Squid Game.
Additionally, Netflix’s geeked week included fan art competitions, allowing fans to display their creativity inspired by their favourite shows. There were also fun exclusives with actors from Netflix’s biggest shows (such as Cobra Kai) partaking in fun games and interviews, and talking about their projects.
But does this week have the desired effects for Netflix?
During Netflix’s Geeked week and also a few days afterwards, the demand for their featured shows was outstanding or exceptional which could be due to the extensive marketing, drawing in popularity for the projects.
During this week, the worldwide demand rankings for the featured shows had some interesting shifts. Stranger Things moved up +4 places but the show was initially high, likely due to the recently released set photos. Wednesday and Black Mirror rose by +43 and +83, respectively, and Squid Game moved up a massive +189 places. These spikes in popularity, during this period could be attributed to the efforts of the Geeked week and the content provided by Netflix during this time.
Releasing new trailers or fun activities including the cast of the most loved shows can inspire fans to return to their beloved shows to watch again in anticipation of the release of new content. This can often lead to an increase in demand, as shown through the ranking data.
There is a clear indication here that during the 16th-19th September the TV shows featured in Netflix’s Geeked Week had a peak in demand. Squid Game had the most prominent acceleration in demand, following the release of a trailer, which is expected for Netflix’s most watched show of all time. In addition, the Black Mirror season 6 trailer was also released, with this show being one of the most featured titles in the Geeked Week, which makes a peak in demand for this show also expected here.
Despite some outliers, for the majority of the featured shows that we looked at, there has been a surge in demand around the time of the Geeked Week. This could indicate the validity of the Geeked Week, not only as a space where fans can be gifted new content and share their love for the shows, but also as a clever marketing strategy for Netflix itself.
Having the event in person for the first time since 2021 shows how the popularity and demand for Geeked Week has grown and this is likely to increase in demand as time goes on.
There is a strong possibility that when the shows do eventually get released, by stirring up all this enthusiasm for projects through these insights and content, this will cause higher demand levels for the shows. This type of marketing for streaming services does tend to work, for example the D23 marketing for Agatha All Along. It allows for fans to express their love for projects and can lead to a increase in the demand for a title both at this time and as anticipation for their future release.
