Commentary

Netflix Hits For Latinx Millennials

Latinx millennials can’t get enough of Netflix. According to a recent report by Horowitz’s Focus Latino:  The Media Landscape 2019 Report, Latinx millennials are spending 34% of their streaming time on Netflix — or three of every 10 hours.  The study reveals that non-Hispanic millennials’ share of Netflix, by contrast, is only 28%.

How is Netflix doing it? It’s really about the quality content. Netflix offers such a vast repertoire of shows from major studios, broadcast and cable networks, as well as Spanish-language programming from the likes of Telemundo. This content of course augments the first-class original shows produced by Netflix.

The report shows that the Latinx millennial audience wants content in both English and Spanish. This is something we see every day and hear in focus groups firsthand. 

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The report found seven in 10 (73%) Latinx millennials agree that Netflix is doing a good job of offering content that appeals to people like them. That’s the highest of any other network or streaming service tested. Additionally, the report shows that over half of Latinx millennials can better relate to shows and movies featuring bilingual characters.

This is an invitation for marketers not to stick Latinx millennials in one language box, but rather to have some fun with this lucrative target’s use of English and Spanish. This audience very much values their cultural heritage and understands that language is a big part of it even if they prefer English. 

Of course, those Latinx millennials who prefer Spanish are also not isolated from English. There is truly an opportunity to culturally connect by portraying this group’s reality, which is not a monoculture!  

With Netflix such a powerful medium how can a brand capitalize on it to target Latinx millennials? Maybe we start seeing characters from popular Netflix shows appearing in more advertising.

Netflix is not offering ads — much to the frustration of many advertising execs. But for anyone who watched the third season of “Stranger Things,” you know the network has no problem with product placement  in its original programming, as this Fast Companypost, "Netflix's 'Stranger Things' is dangerously close to becoming 'Sponsored Things,'" notes. Does that mean we can expect to see product placements in shows like “La Casa de Papel” or “La Niña”?

We’ll have to wait and see. But the good news is the results of this study are proof positive that marketers need to push some cultural boundaries.

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