Netflix vs Stan - Part 2/3

Screenshot of Stan's Facebook Page
Source: https://www.facebook.com/Stancomau/photos/a.777065482350660.1073741827.746163128774229/865154273541780/?type=1

Advertising of SVOD usually falls within two categories. The first is advertising the entire offering, so pushing the brand of Netflix or Stan. The second is advertising a particular series or movie that the service has within it’s online catalog. 

When Netflix was launching their SVOD in the US, Netflix normally ran advertisements focusing on the entire platform, as can be seen below.

Screenshot of Netflix's Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/NetflixANZ?brand_redir=475822799216240

Source: https://ianfish27.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/netflix.png

However, in recent years, they have now moved towards the model of advertising each series as they become available in each market. This can be seen in their Facebook promotions but also in their Youtube preroll advertisements - which can be see below.

As a side comment, we define Social Media to also be a form of advertising, as it is a source of promotion messaging to consumers for many organisation. Whilst it may not be as blatant as traditional advertising for the consumer, it still attempts to win over consumers to spend more money with an organisations service.

Screenshot of Netflixs' Australia's FB Page
Source: https://www.facebook.com/NetflixANZ/videos/961294240571121/

Screenshot of Stan's FB page
Source: https://www.facebook.com/Stancomau?ref=ts&fref=ts

The move away from traditional models of advertising, from both a traditional channel approach (TV, newspapers, radio etc.) to a digital and social media approach is a sign of the times and also the competitiveness of the industry that SVOD series are playing it.

Additionally, the move of the SVOD series pushing the content (i.e. the TV series and Movies that are available to users on their catalog) over the entire offering may be because there isn't much different between the series apart from the content they have on offer. We examine the pricing and on average each service is priced at the $10-$12 mark and we believe that a consumer wouldn't feel swayed between each service on price alone.

As each services takes the learnings and optimisations across technology, UX, UI and interactivity that their competitors roll out, the only true difference is that one SVOD service has House of Cards and the other doesn't. 

In the short term, content will be king, and consumers will demand what they want, on the platform that they want it. However in the long term, SVOD services are going to need to innovate in the delivery of our TV, Movies, Documentaries and other forms of videos, but also on the speed of which we receive the next best series.

Advertising will play a critical role in this battle between the SVOD services and how consumers pick or continue to pay a Netflix or Stan their monthly fee for access to their content. 

Part 3/3 of the Netflix vs Stan blog edition will look at the innovation in content sourcing and delivery, and how this translates into the advertising they put out to market.

- By Jacob