Netflix Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
Netflix segmentation, targeting and positioning efforts are the basis of marketing strategy. Segmentation implies dividing the market into different groups on the basis of common traits and characteristics. The entertainment services provider segments its market on the basis of location, demography, behaviour, psychographic and other variables.
Netflix uses the following positioning techniques:
1. Anticipatory positioning. When Netflix pioneered on-demand streaming of films, series and documentaries for a fixed monthly cost in 2007, the demand for such a service initially was low to non-existent. However, then CEO Reed Hastings and his team anticipated the demand for such a service and went ahead with the idea to see the demand gradually growing in the following years.
2. Mono-segment positioning. The largest streaming service in the world targets a single customer segment that is outward-looking, affluent consumers with international credit cards and smartphones.
The following table 2 illustrates Netflix segmentation, targeting and positioning:
| Type of segmentation | Segmentation criteria | Netflix target customer segment
|
|
Geographic |
Region | Available virtually everywhere except in China and Russia |
| Density | Urban/rural | |
|
Demographic |
Age | Shows available for all age groups |
| Gender | Males & Females | |
| Life-cycle stage | Bachelor Stage young, single people not living at home
Newly Married Couples young, no children Full Nest I youngest child under six Full Nest II youngest child six or over Full Nest III older married couples with dependent children Empty Nest I older married couples, no children living with them Empty Nest II older married couples, retired, no children living at home Solitary Survivor I in labour force Solitary Survivor II retired |
|
| Occupation | Students, employees, professionals, senior manager, executives | |
| Behavioral | Degree of loyalty | ‘Hard core loyals’ and ‘Switchers’ |
| Benefits sought | Recreation & Inspiration | |
| Personality | Easygoing, determined, ambitious | |
| User status | non-users, potential users, first-time users, regular users, or ex-users of the streaming service | |
| Psychographic | Social class | Working class, middle class and upper class |
| Lifestyle[1] | Resigned, Mainstreamer, Aspirer, Succeeder, Explorer, Reformer | |
| Risk aversion | Risk avoiding, Risk neutral, Risk loving |
Netflix segmentation, targeting and positioning
Netflix Inc. Report contains the above analysis of Netflix segmentation, targeting and positioning and Netflix marketing strategy in general. The report illustrates the application of the major analytical strategic frameworks in business studies such as SWOT, PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces, Value Chain analysis, Ansoff Matrix and McKinsey 7S Model on Netflix. Moreover, the report contains analyses of Netflix leadership, organizational structure and organizational culture. The report also comprises discussions of Netflix business strategy, ecosystem and addresses issues of corporate social responsibility.
[1]According to Cross Cultural Consumer Characterization by Young & Rubican