Netflix hosted the “Stream Fest” on the 5th and 6th of December, giving non-subscribers free access to their vast content library of movies and web-series. So overwhelming was the response to this promotion, that Netflix extended it for another two days, from 9th to 11th December.
We’re taking a look at what transpired during the ‘StreamFest’ — how consumers responded, and if this bold move by Netflix unlocked new users.
We have analyzed user engagement across 23 apps — ranging from Social Media, Messaging and OTT, over a period of 5 weekends (7th November to 6th December)– to discern spikes and troughs in user activity.
As a premium service within the OTT landscape — Netflix may struggle to gain as widespread an adoption as Disney+Hotstar and MX Player have, owing to both — its premium positioning as well as the kind of content library it houses. This move could be a step in the direction of widening its base.
Higher App Installs = Increased Reach:
One of the most obvious impacts of this campaign by Netflix was an increase in app downloads during the promotion period — Reach of the Netflix app saw a spike of 13% during the weekend of 5th and 6th December, compared to average reach of the previous 4 weekends (7th ,14th, 21st and 28th Nov). Interestingly, the spike was sharper on Sunday (10% on Saturday vs. 15% on Sunday). While all other apps studied remained more or less consistent with previous weeks, Sony Liv and Wynk Movies also witnessed jumps in reach, to the tune of 11% and 15% respectively.
Daily Active Users saw a sharp jump:
Along with improved access, Netflix also witnessed a significant rise in daily active usage — DAU figures jumped a massive 243% during the weekend of 5th-6th December — Saturday saw a rise of 213% whereas Sunday saw figures reaching 271% over the previous 4 Sundays.
This jump in activity on Netflix however, did not have any discernible impact on usage of platforms like FB, Instagram, Whatsapp , Twitter or Youtube — possibly due to usage of these being too ingrained into the daily habits of users?
Chingari and Helo, though saw dips in DAU numbers to the tune of 6–10%.
Within OTT apps, Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video saw drops of ~11% and ~17% respectively.
Sony Liv and Wynk Movies also saw significant spikes in DAU — to the tune of 127% and 148% respectively.
Both Users & Usage Increased!
Even on a significantly broader user base, open rates for Netflix saw impressive spikes — 135% on average, vs. previous 4 weekends — split as 128% on Saturday, and 141% on Sunday. Amazon and Hotstar, on the other hand, witnessed drops of ~6–8% in open rates during this period.
Some of these apps also saw lower time spent on their platforms — drops of ~10–12% were seen across OTT apps of Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, Mx player, Vodafone Play and Voot. Netflix, on the other hand saw a rise of 18% in time spent on Sunday.
Not only did Netflix manage to pull in crowds with this campaign, it must have gotten a strong understanding of the content consumption patterns of the hitherto “untapped” market with this widely successful move!
Let us know what you think.
Thanks for your time,
- Rhitu
rhituparna@kalagato.co
