Going Dutch Localization Strategies for Netflix’s Brand in the Netherlands

Digitalization and media convergence have changed media landscapes. Global media brands such as Netflix emerged in the global market, with multiple local brands. These local brands incorporate localization strategies to fulfill audience-specific needs. Netflix has expanded its service to numerous countries, and research on these local Netflix brands is relevant for a more complete understanding on how global brands take form locally. Netflix Netherlands, however, has not been researched regarding its branding and localization strategies yet. Since Netflix has based its EMAE headquarters in Amsterdam and Netflix leads the Dutch media market, this country’s Netflix brand deserves academical attention. This thesis serves to answer the following research question: How does Netflix’s brand in the Netherlands compare to its global US-based brand? To find an answer to this question, this thesis used a thematic content analysis with a grounded theory approach. The collected data included online and publicly available statements, interviews, news articles, explanation videos, and advertisements by Netflix NL or official Netflix representatives. This thesis performed initial and focused coding on the most relevant data items. This coding process existed of systematically categorizing relevant units of analysis within the data items into an initial and final coding frame. The results included seven main themes: content, innovation, relation to other entertainment forms, localization activities, performance, competition, and Netflix in social life. Analysis of these themes revealed that Netflix NL uses three relevant branding strategies: a portal-as-brand strategy, portalas-content strategy, and producer-as-brand strategy. The main difference with Netflix’s global brand was the focus on content in its branding strategies. Unlike Netflix US, Netflix NL has used this content strategy since it entered the Dutch market and adapted it to circumstances in this environment. The Dutch brand used content to attract new subscribers in its early years, and eventually aligned this with the producer-as-brand strategy to market its competitive advantage. Even though Netflix’s Dutch brand is somewhat similar to the global brand, Netflix NL has grown to be a stable individual brand with a global attitude itself. This topic requires further research in the future as both brands and their contexts keep evolving.