Netflix and NBCUniversal are experimenting with new advertising and marketing methods to attach with audiences past the streaming display screen. Slightly than relying solely on trailers, social media adverts, or conventional promotions, some studios are constructing campaigns that mix in-person experiences with digital engagement.
Throughout a panel dialogue on the Marketing campaign Convene 2026 convention, executives from each corporations mentioned how this hybrid strategy is shaping how reveals and movies are marketed, combining dwell fan occasions with on-line platforms and streaming providers.
Trade observers typically confer with the technique as “phygital” advertising and marketing. The time period describes campaigns that hyperlink bodily experiences, akin to fan conventions, themed installations, or pop-up occasions, with digital instruments that stretch engagement on-line. In accordance with reporting from Marketing campaign Dwell, executives from each corporations mentioned these campaigns assist flip viewers into lively individuals relatively than passive audiences.
The strategy displays a shift in how leisure manufacturers promote content material in an period when streaming providers compete for consideration as a lot as subscriptions. A advertising and marketing marketing campaign now not ends with a trailer launch or a banner advert. As a substitute, it might contain interactive occasions that encourage followers to share content material, be a part of discussions, and have interaction with a franchise throughout a number of channels.
Mixing bodily occasions with digital engagement
In observe, phygital campaigns typically begin with a dwell expertise. A studio would possibly host a themed pop-up tied to a brand new collection or stage a fan occasion tied to a significant movie launch. On the similar time, digital instruments lengthen the attain of the occasion.
In lots of instances, hybrid campaigns could embrace instruments akin to QR codes, social media integrations, or cell apps that hyperlink the bodily occasion to digital content material. These interactions create a suggestions loop wherein the bodily occasion fuels on-line dialog, and on-line dialogue attracts extra followers to the expertise.
Executives from Netflix and NBCUniversal described this strategy as a solution to construct stronger ties between audiences and leisure franchises. Bodily experiences give followers an opportunity to attach with a present in individual, whereas digital channels enable studios to observe how these interactions unfold on-line. Marketing campaign Dwell reported that the businesses see these campaigns as a solution to hold audiences engaged earlier than and after a present’s launch.
Why streaming corporations are testing this strategy
The technique additionally displays broader modifications in how audiences eat media. Streaming platforms have grown rapidly over the previous decade, however they now compete with many types of digital leisure, together with short-form video platforms and gaming. Consequently, studios are trying to find methods to make their content material stand out in crowded feeds.
Separate trade analysis highlights the problem. In its 2024 Digital Media Developments survey, Deloitte discovered that youthful audiences typically divide their viewing time between streaming providers, social media platforms, and user-generated content material websites. This shift has pushed media corporations to consider advertising and marketing as an ongoing dialog relatively than a one-time marketing campaign.
Phygital advertising and marketing may generate massive quantities of user-created content material. When followers attend a themed occasion or interactive expertise, many report and share the second on-line. These posts typically attain audiences far past the individuals who attended the occasion itself. Studios then monitor how that content material spreads throughout platforms akin to TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
Knowledge and expertise behind hybrid campaigns
Expertise performs an necessary function in connecting these bodily and digital moments. Cell apps, QR codes, and location-based providers can tie a real-world occasion to on-line content material or rewards. Buyer knowledge methods assist advertising and marketing groups monitor which experiences appeal to consideration and the way followers reply afterward. Social media analytics instruments additionally assist studios measure how a lot dialog an occasion generates.
These instruments enable corporations to assemble perception about how audiences work together with a franchise throughout a number of channels. For instance, a studio may even see what number of guests attended a dwell occasion, what number of scanned a code to unlock digital content material, and what number of later shared that have on-line. Every step supplies knowledge that may form future campaigns.
For media corporations, the purpose is to increase the lifetime of a present or movie past the display screen. A profitable occasion could create a ripple impact, driving curiosity weeks earlier than a launch and sustaining dialogue lengthy after the premiere.
The strategy additionally mirrors methods utilized in different industries. Retail manufacturers and sports activities leagues have been experimenting with related hybrid experiences for years. In these sectors, manufacturers mix bodily shops or occasions with cell apps, social platforms, and on-line communities. Leisure corporations at the moment are making use of the identical concept to storytelling and fan engagement.
On the similar time, the mannequin continues to be evolving. Some campaigns focus closely on immersive occasions, whereas others emphasise digital participation tied to a smaller bodily expertise. Studios are nonetheless experimenting with which codecs resonate most with followers.
What is evident is that leisure advertising and marketing is increasing past conventional promoting channels. Streaming platforms stay central to how folks watch reveals and movies, however fan engagement now stretches throughout many areas, from social media feeds to dwell gatherings.
By linking these environments collectively, corporations like Netflix and NBCUniversal are testing how advertising and marketing can transfer between bodily areas and digital networks. The outcomes of those experiments could form how future leisure campaigns are designed, particularly as streaming providers compete to maintain audiences engaged lengthy after the play button is pressed.
(Photograph by Marques Kaspbrak)
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