Netflix has definitely wrestled its way back into relevancy in a big way across the last few months, in no small part because their original programming schemes are starting to come to fruition. House of Cards is out there (seemingly doing well) and has a lot going for it in terms of being a financially successful experiment (The Atlantic has a good breakdown of the hypothetical economics), so there’s a big spotlight on this part of Netflix’s strategy. They’ve already got another five shows lined up to follow House of Cards, including Arrested Development Season 4, but why not add one more? And why not do it with a big partner?
Cut to today’s announcement that the Dreamworks film Turbo (the Drive-inspired teaser is pretty cute) will dovetail into an animated series called Turbo: F.A.S.T. (Fast Action Stunt Team), and that series will live exclusively on Netflix.
Now obviously this isn’t a pure Netflix production, but it is a production partnership to create content exclusively for the site. Here’s example number one of the media company convincing another content creator that their network is a viable first-release platform, and they are worthy co-producers. I don’t see House Of Cards or any of Netflix’s moves on the content end as engineered (at least not primarily) for the purpose of luring other content providers to their garden, but if you’re looking for that as indication of success, here’s a start.
Progressive strategies aside, Netflix has had great success as a children’s television platform, especially their “for kids” interface. Hell, the most robust section of content on Instant Watch is arguably the animation and children’s shows side. The new deals with Warner Bros. and Disney are only going to make that more true. Who knows if Turbo will be one of Dreamworks’ big successes, but if it turns out to be the next Despicable Me or whatever, it’s going to be big for the Netflix.
Source | AP (via Gizmodo)