Building the Netflix Brand

Franchise Logic, Authorship, and Distinction in the Promotion of Stranger Things

Bibliographic Data

ID7178087
AuthorsFilipa Antunes (0000-0001-5978-6771, University of East Anglia, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume26
Issue6
Pages668-684
Publication date2025-01-30
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTelevision & New Media (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1527-4764 • E-ISSN: 1552-8316
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/15274764251315704
OpenAlexW4407049025
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited19

The article explores how Netflix uses the promotional narratives of its content, specifically Stranger Things , to pursue control of its wider brand associations. The study applies thematic and discourse analysis to demonstrate how the brand narrative articulated in interviews with the Duffer Brothers (a set of key promotional paratexts) enforces strict interpretation boundaries for Stranger Things , its creators, and Netflix. Specifically, the promotional discourse (1) draws on the commercial structures and reception patterns of genre franchises and auteurism to produce alignment with the value systems of different audience markets, and (2) capitalizes on cultural oppositions between film and television to connect the Duffers’ original authorship to the idea of Netflix as a unique streaming platform. The article thus suggests a complex branding process at work in the marketing of Stranger Things , preoccupied with notions of authorship, distinction, and the need to navigate fragmented streaming audiences

Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Business · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Media studies · Narrative · Political science · Promotion (chess · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Computer Science · Digital Games and Media · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access