gmcmonagle

[gmcmonagle]

Netflix Begins Ad-Supported Tier

Netflix has been one of the top competitors in the streaming service since the beginning fifteen some years ago. The thing that brings them so many subscribers is the original movies and shows that they come out with. Some of these shows involve new actors and directors, where as some other shows involve blockbuster actors and directors. Netflix over the years has slowly been losing revenue due to their catalogue losing more and more shows. In the past, they would increase their prices to try and make back the money they have been using. This time they are trying something different.

Netflix is beginning to offer a cheaper version of the subscription for $6.99 a month. Users can now save half the amount they spend monthly on a version of the app that will display ads between the shows and movies. This will now compete with HBO Max, Hulu, and Disney+ subscriptions that also offer an ad version of the app. Netflix released this version a week ago on November 3rd. 

In terms of making money this is great for Netflix. They have been on a downfall the last couple years because they keep losing big shows like “Friends” and “The Office” to competing streaming services. The CEO of Netflix Kevin Krim said last week, “Advertisers will be paying a high premium to advertise on Netflix - with uncertain results”. This means they will start to make back the money they lose from people lowering their subscription, and on top of that they will make back the money they lost from people who dropped their subscription. 

The ads Netflix will post will be similar to what other streaming services make. There will be a majority of ads that are trailers for other Netflix shows, then there will be a small amount of ads that companies outside of Netflix have paid for. They will be running 15 to 30 second ads prior to the show and in the middle. The company is also planning to limit ads to no more than five minutes per hour, to not annoy customers to the point of leaving. Netflix believes they will reach 40 million unique users globally on the ad-supported platform by the third quarter, per Wall Street Journal. 

When looking at this chart it is clear that Netflix is still above most of the streaming services. YouTube and TikTok will both be first because they are free to the public. Even though Netflix has been on a downfall the last three years, they still see themselves above big competitors like Disney and Amazon. Streaming is an industry that will only keep going up over the years. As people get older they will begin to drop cable and pick up streaming services instead. 

The question I would like to ask the readers is, are you still subscribed to Netflix and do you intend to pay for this cheaper version instead? I assume most people had Netflix at some point or they still have it. Throughout the years people say they have officially deleted their Netflix account and will move on to other streaming services. With popular shows like Squid Game, Stranger Things, and Peaky Blinders, I feel like most people are still keeping their accounts. In the end, Netflix has plans to try and stay number one while adding new shows and movies monthly to the platform. 

[gmcmonagle]

McDonald’s Market in the World Cup

McDonalds is one of the largest fast food restaurants in the world. When a person sees the two golden arches, they know exactly what they are looking at. McDonalds has a catchy jingle and one of the most known logos. They have all of this yet they continue to market. This time doing something that can focus on all languages and people of the world.

McDonalds released a one minute long commercial recently that consists of many different people asking their friends or family if they want to go to McDonalds. Throughout the commercial this saying happens in ten different languages and four dialects. The video also consists of “Ted lasso” star Jason Sudekis, K-Pop artist ITZY, twitch streamer Edwin Castro, and TikTok star Khaby Lame. McDonalds once again is focusing their commercials around famous celebrities' to help promote their company. The difference about this commercial compared to other ones they have done in the past is that they are including the World Cup. This is the most popular sport in the world and the most broadcasted event. It will get even more views this year compared to the last due to The United States qualifying to play. This country not liking soccer as much as others, the U.S playing will influence many more to watch. 

Something interesting that McDonalds is doing alongside this commercial during the World Cup is they will be sending out 11 delivery drivers in China *the same that is on a soccer team) to deliver food during the matches. This is because in China it will be past 12 o'clock in the morning when most games are played. All the drivers will be in uniform and will be live streaming the entire thing on TikTok. This is a very cool way to help boost promotion as the World Cup plays out for the next month. 

As you can see by this chart, in the year 2021 McDonalds was number 1 in systemwide sales in the fast food industry. They always seem to be on top yet they continue to make commercials and partner with major influencers and celebrities. This is because they intend to stay number one, in the highly competitive market. In 2021, they had $46 billion in sales, nearly double Starbucks who is right below them.  McDonalds has proven that their marketing strategies work and other companies need to start replicating them if they want to grow in the market.

With McDonalds continuing to grow year after year, I wanted to ask why they do not try new menu items as often as they should? Not only do they possibly make more money because of the item, but they also get to make more commercials and ads to promote the item. It does not hurt to try especially when they they have such a large following of people who eat there often. The company is so known that everyone will go at least once to try a new menu item. 

[gmcmonagle]

Red Bull’s Interesting Marketing Strategy

When you think of Red Bull’s marketing the first thing that comes to mind for me is the political cartoon style black and white commercials. They release multiple different commercials with all of the videos ending with their famous slogan “Red Bull gives you wiiings”. For those who do not know, the slogan was changed to include three i’s instead of one. This was due to a class action lawsuit that forced them to change it due to Red Bull not actually giving people wings. The company has branched out from just doing commercials and they have begun also advertising to their target market in different ways. This includes sponsoring athletes and Youtubers. Something that Red Bull has been doing for a couple years now that is different then other companies, is they use publicity stunts to help generate hype and sales.

Videos like this show extreme sports like skydiving, bungie jumping, and wingsuit flying with the Red Bull logo all over the uniforms. These public stunts would be posted as full YouTube videos, but also be shown as ads on YouTube, Twitter, and other social medias. Once these videos are posted, they will usually begin to trend on the internet. This will cause people who do not care about Red Bull to still click on the video, seeing Red Bull attire it may influence them to buy the drink. Even if they do not, they still boosted the video by clicking on it and watching. Red Bull’s target market includes people ages 18-30 who play video games, go to parties, and participate in sports. Red Bull is specifically marketing to these demographics when hiring people to perform stunts like this.

This chart is displaying the percentage share of energy drinks in the year 2021. As you can see Red Bull is at the top selling 42.5% of market share for energy drinks. This goes to show that the companies marketing strategy consisting of performing public stunts has helped them stay on top. Not only are they able to sell the most every year, but they are dominating in the market. 

This leads me to ask the question, what can other companies in the energy drink market do differently? Monster being second behind Red Bull having 30% of the shares does a lot of marketing. This includes the logo being used a lot in video game commercials, UFC fights, and also the X Games. They do all this yet fall far behind Red Bull. Rockstar only has 4.4% of market shares, which is incredibly surprising to me because they are owned by Pepsi. It seems that some companies do not care about their energy drinks and focus on the other items they have. Leaving Red Bull to take almost half of the market share.