Why Netflix Should Partner with Artists to Produce Fitness Videos
Partnering with artists could allow Netflix to create low cost, engaging content with a high ROI.
Happy Monday! Thanks for opening the second edition of the Stan newsletter. A weekly newsletter exploring fans and their bidirectional relationships with the artists that they love. As always suggestions and feedback are always appreciated. You can shoot me an email at dkuhlor@gmail.com or respond directly to this newsletter.
The success of Beyonce’s concert film, Homegoing, was undeniable. Beyonce’s ability to rework her existing catalogue and provide her fans with a total new experience was intriguing. While the concept of concert films and concert albums are not new, there has never been a greater need for artists to leverage their existing catalogue to invoke nostalgia while also introducing newer fans to the breadth of their work. Beyonce’s deal with Netflix includes three projects which led me to wonder whether Beyonce could carry out her Netflix deal simply by providing three vantage points into Beychella. Assuming she was to do this there is a great opportunity for her next project to play off her already highly engaged fanbase’s desire to participate. By building upon an already demonstrated fan behavior (replicating her choreography) Beyonce could easily launch a fitness video taking fans through the choreography of Beychella and spearheading a new vertical for Netflix. As Netflix considers whether they should double down on fitness, partnering with artists is the perfect way to de-risk whether it could work.
The Opportunity for Netflix - Another Tool to Capture Attention
Netflix has been very vocal that they are in the competition for attention. Whether it is our sleep, Fortnite, or HBOGo Netflix is most concerned about being ingrained in our lifestyle. While “Netflix and Chill” has definitely helped further their efforts, fitness presents an interesting opportunity to make an already sticky product even stickier. The role of music in the fitness experience is undeniable (it is why we see companies like Peleton involved in Techstars Music) and given the replicability of fitness videos it gives Netflix a unique angle to maintaining that attention.
(Teyana Taylor’s Fade to Fitness)
The Opportunity for Artists - Facilitating Nostalgia While Introducing New Fans to Music They Might Not Be Familiar With
In a world where 40,000 songs are being added to Spotify everyday artists continually struggle to find ways to connect with their audiences while also preserving the shelf life of their already released music. It is why we saw Drake release So Far Gone on streaming platforms for its 10th anniversary, Beyonce add Lemonade to Spotify,and J. Cole to promise to add his mixtapes to streaming services. While not viable for every artist, there is a great opportunity to deepen this connection by giving their audiences opportunities that extend beyond spectating and encourage participation.
While this idea could be carried out by Spotify or another music streaming service Netflix is perfectly poised to bring this to market as they have already mastered the complexities around video. Additionally, by partnering with artists they get to tap into a somewhat instant viewership thanks to the fan loyalty that artists with highly engaged fanbases benefit from. The recording of fitness videos are relatively cheap and given that most people watch fitness videos multiple times the ROI on this content is much higher than a lot of the work that Netflix has green-lighted.
Should Netflix partner with artists experiment with fitness videos?
My Favorite Stan Moments:
[TWEET] This Interactive Twitter Thread Where You Can Pretend to be Beyonce’s Assistant for a Day
The One Year Anniversary of Teyana Taylor’s Keep The Same Energy Album
[ARTICLE] The Recording Academy Will Now Accept Streaming Links in Most Grammy Category Submissions
[TWEET] Jackie Aina Thinking About Creating a Secret Groupchat for a Subset of Her Followers
My Headphones:
Truth Hurts by Lizzo (That BET performance last night though, PHENOMENAL)
Best,
D