A qualitative study on international branding and marketing of SVOD services. The case of Netflix in the Turkish market

Netflix entered the Turkish market in January 2016 as part of the service’s expansion into 130 new territories. As Netflix strengthens its presence in the Turkish market with increasing number of subscribers and investments in local content production, the company’s branding and marketing practices in this national market require an exhaustive analysis. Although the arrival of Netflix in the Turkish market has attracted some scholarly attention, to date, research has yet to comprehensively explore the company’s expansion to the market including local marketing and branding strategies. This study was led by the main research question “How does Netflix construct and promote its brand in the Turkish market?” To answer this question, the press releases of Netflix, the media coverage of the brand –including the interviews with Netflix executives– by major Turkish media outlets and the company’s video advertisements on social media were examined in detail by employing thematic analysis as the research method. Covering a 5-years-period, from Netflix’ arrival in Turkey to April 2021, the research data yielded a comprehensive overview of the company’s branding and marketing practices in this national market, including its localization strategies. The findings revealed that while Netflix emphasized the aspects of being an SVOD service –such as offering a superior watching experience and a large variety of content– in its first years in the market, the brand positioned itself as a producer and global distributor of local content as its Turkish original series and movies has increased over the years. Localization was found to be at the center of Netflix’ expansion in the Turkish market and its branding/marketing practices. First, its service was customized through local pricing, Turkish interface and dubbing/subtitles options. Second, its catalog was localized by the acquisition and production of local content. Third, the company partnered up with local companies for public relations, marketing and content production purposes. Fourth, Netflix complied with local regulations on online broadcasting by applying for a license to operate legally in Turkey and being subject to RTÜK (Radio and Television Supreme Council of Turkey)’s monitoring processes. Finally, the company tailored its marketing strategies for the Turkish market by providing trials and special offers to local audience, organizing premiere nights for its original content, presenting its content slate regularly to the local media, generating local advertising campaigns at outdoors and on social media. The locally produced promotional videos of Netflix original content were further analyzed to discover their cultural elements, which consisted of local characters, places, objects, language, music and rituals.