Original Contents, Celebrities and Proximity. How Netflix Spain used Instagram to Bring its Catalogue to Young People during the Pandemics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/esmp.82159
Keywords: Netflix Spain, Instagram, Generation Z, OTT, lockdown, transmedia narratives

Abstract

This study focuses on how Netflix Spain harnessed Instagram to acquaint young people with its catalogue during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the sudden increase in OTT consumption. This led Netflix Spain to adapt its social media strategies and production release dates to a situation without parallel and in the face of intense competition. We analyze the messages during the state of alarm in Spain (from 15 March to 21 June of 2020), when Netflix was the most consumed OTT service. Netflix promoted recently released productions and used proximity strategies, both to GenZ and to Spanish audience, such as toning down with humor the daily problems of lockdown, using juvenile slang (“crush”, “shipping”), referring to the habits of young people (taking selfies, sending audio messages) and using the social media of the cast of their most popular series, promoting them as “Netflix celebrities” and emphasizing their good-looks and sexual attractive. 

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Author Biographies

Erika Fernández-Gómez, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja

Erika Fernández-Gómez, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Communication and Advertising at the School of Business and Communication, International University of La Rioja (Spain). She is in charge of the Degree in Advertising.  Her research focuses on social networks, streaming platforms, e-health and younger audiences.

Beatriz Feijoo, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja

Beatriz Feijoo (PhD) is an associate professor of advertising and marketing at the School of Business and Communication, International University of La Rioja (Spain). Her research focuses on communication and children, the use of screens in new generations, and more recently on the relationship between minors and advertising through the mobile devices. She is also the principal investigator of funded research projects (Fondecyt N°11170336—Chile; I+D+i Project—Spain ref. PID2020‐116841RAI00; DIGITAL_FIT-MAPFRE FOUNDATION; PENSACRIGITAL‐UNIR) on communication, new media, childhood, and adolescence.

Juan Martín Quevedo, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

Juan Martín-Quevedo is Junior Lecturer in Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. His main research lines are social media and streaming platforms, media history and scholarly communications.

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Published
2023-02-17
How to Cite
Fernández-Gómez E., Feijoo B. y Martín Quevedo J. (2023). Original Contents, Celebrities and Proximity. How Netflix Spain used Instagram to Bring its Catalogue to Young People during the Pandemics. Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 29(1), 91-104. https://doi.org/10.5209/esmp.82159
Issue
Vol. 29 No. 1 (2023)
Section
Research and Documents

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