The Cobra Kai series was a big deal when it launched on Youtube Premium in 2018. There was a lot of press. My company 80sTees.com saw a nice boost in sales. It was a pretty big deal.
Fast forward to 2020 and Youtube’s Premium strategy has shifted and they let the Cobra Kai people shop the show around and Netflix picked it up. Netflix doesn’t do much press other than some social media posts, at least that’s all that I saw. The stars and producers promoted it on their social media too. But what Netflix does do is promote the show when you login to Netflix. I’m sure this is algorithm based but I think it’s safe to say anyone between the ages of 35 to 50 was greeted with a Cobra Kai promo upon login.
The result is that Cobra Kai is the number one show on Netflix worldwide within a few days of Seasons 1 and 2 hitting the network. I think there is a lot to learn from this:
Convenience is King: Youtube offered a trial subscription so that you could access the premium content without having to pay a dime. The season is only 10 episodes so it’s reasonable to be able to stream the entire season for free and then cancel your subscription. Many people did this, including myself. But the marginal customer did not do this. Even some super fans didn’t do this. It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George is telling an NBC executive that people will watch the show because it’s on tv. There’s some truth to that.
YouTube Didn’t Do Enough Promotion: I think this speaks to Google’s main limitation when it comes to marketing. They are only good at pull marketing. If you know you want something you go go Google. But if you aren’t aware something exists Google has no great way of letting you know. What should google have done? Ironically they should have advertised on Facebook.
It’s important to Try Before You Buy: I am willing to bet that a large number of people who did not ante up for Youtube premium for the fear of having to pay $10 to watch the show would pay $10 right now for immediate access to Season 3.
If You’re Not On Netflix Are You Even on Bro?: If I was a tv show creator with an active production I’d do everything I could to get the early seasons on Netflix, including possibly giving it to them for free in exchange for on screen promotion and recommendations.
Netflix Is a Juggernaut: They have tons of debt and they have tons of new entrants trying to steal their thunder. Doesn’t matter. Disney+ will be a kind of Disney Prime type membership program and they’ll be super successful, but as the Disney owned Yoda would say “Won the streaming wars, Netflix has.”.
Youtube Should Have Released An Episode Per Week: People love Cobra Kai. Youtube could have generated Game of Thrones and Walking Dead type anticipation with the traditional episode per week release schedule.