Netflix creates rom-com exclusively for YouTube

Netflix has released the first episode of a fictional show it has created for YouTube. Titled 'Aryan & Meera', the show chronicles the life of a couple, and the first episode shows them moving in together. The web series features episodes that are roughly 15 minutes in length, and new episodes will premiere every Wednesday.

The show is rife with Netflix references. The OTT platform is shown as a way for the couple to bond with each other - almost ritualising it, in that sense. We also see the characters carry coffee mugs with Netflix's logo on it, as well as carrying the phrase 'Stranger Things' on it - a reference to the popular fiction show available on the platform.

Interestingly, the series also makes a reference to Netflix's newly introduced 'Play Something' feature. It is a button on the Netflix platform that plays a show, or a movie, based on the content a user has viewed in the past.

It's hard to miss Netflix's choice of platform (YouTube) for introducing the new show. Netflix and YouTube complement and compete with each other in different ways. Netflix's mobile plan competes with YouTube content. But Netflix is leveraging YouTube's platform and audiences to promote the content that it has behind the paywall on its OTT platform.

Netflix has been focusing on content on YouTube for a while now. Its marketing ploy is to create content that engages with the users, while directing them back to the streaming platform to watch the shows being referenced to. Netflix has a variety of YouTube properties across genres, like comedy, food, travel, fashion, and so on.

Netflix’s AOR Glitch has chosen this approach to content marketing because it finds that it’s a better way to connect with, and appeal to, its target audience. These days, most brands are taking an editorial-first approach, rather than a brand-first approach, to build relatability, approachability and, ultimately, brand trust.

The difference between YouTube and Netflix's platform is ultimately this. With Netflix, a user can't access any content without a basic subscription. YouTube works with an ad-based revenue model, in which paying for a subscription makes the ads go away. Ads are also how independent content creators earn money - creators get paid when an ad plays before their videos.

Netflix has both long-term and short term collaborations with influencers. The platform, for example, collaborated with Aurangabad-based musician Yashraj Mukhate (of 'Rasode Main Kaun Tha' fame) on a one-time basis for an Indian Matchmaking-themed remix.

(Hero image courtesy David Balev on Unsplash.)