No, You Haven’t Entered The Upside Down. Netflix Is Everywhere—Here’s Why

Scoops Ahoy’s “U.S.S. Butterscotch” flavor chills in a Walmart freezer. Puma’s website sells Squid Game uniforms. In New York City, Queen Charlotte leads a grand regency ball.

No, you haven’t entered the Upside Down: Netflix’s IPs are everywhere—and it’s not a happy coincidence.

The streamer is gearing up to give Disney and Universal a run for their money with Netflix House, a 100,000-square feet themed entertainment complex that will include dining pitstops, gift shops, and immersive experiences tied to hit shows including Stranger Things and Bridgerton. The first two locations will open in King of Prussia, PA, and Dallas, TX in 2025.

In preparation, Netflix has spent 2024 making sure the world knows entertainment, not streaming, is its core product. Physical launches and live events have been at the heart of this strategy, led by Josh Simon, Netflix’s vp of consumer products and experiences.

He’s all too aware that some of Netflix’s peers have broad IP portfolios that have been around for “50 or more years,” but he doesn’t necessarily see that as a disadvantage for Netflix.

“We’re largely working with brand new worlds and stories and characters. We’re creating things from scratch. That gives us a lot of freedom to think differently,” he told ADWEEK.

He added that he views Netflix House as a way to extend the platform’s storytelling, noting Netflix worked with showrunners and leaned into viewership data to determine which experiences fans would get most excited about.

Netflix House is more than a brand-building exercise, and its shows. It’s also a way of giving fans moments to engage with worlds and characters they love year-round, said Simon.

Of course, the more these experiences engage fans, the more they can drive buzz and viewership, bolstering Netflix’s 282.7 million global subscriber base.

“Revenue is obviously another important measure,” Simon continued. “We work with retail partners and we put these products on shelves around the world, obviously they’re interested in [revenue] and we are too.”

Simon, who leads teams in the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, declined to confirm how much the consumer goods division has grown over the last 12 months, share or any specific financials. However, he said product partnerships have been generating “decent revenue” for all parties involved.

Worldbuilding off-screen

Merch and licensing launched in the last year have included careful collaborations with handpicked retailers. Recently, brands like Crocs, Johnnie Walker, and Puma released products themed around the impending second season of the Korean-language thriller Squid Game.

Stranger Things has also collaborated with Pandora on a jewelry collection designed by fans featuring glow-in-the-dark charms. Elsewhere, British shoe brand Clarks Originals launched five pairs of shoes that take inspiration from the show’s locations, characters, and events ahead of its fifth run.

Over the past two years, under CMO Marian Lee, Netflix has moved its $2.5 billion ad spend away from platform-centric campaigns and toward work rooted in championing the brand’s shows and their cultural clout. This has spilled out into the real world via “the Netflix effect,” where shows like Bridgerton and The Queen’s Gambit are driving consumer purchases.

Leaning into this, Netflix has also brought fictional products and brands from its series to supermarket shelves, including Scoops Ahoy, a homage to Stranger Things’ nautical-themed ice cream parlor.

“Globally, that’s been very successful,” said Simon. “The rich creative, nostalgia-driven world of that show has given us such a strong creative hook.”

Netflix has opened more than 50 live experiences in 100 different cities over the last 12 months, including The Queen’s Ball Bridgerton and Stranger Things: The First Shadow, an Olivier-award-winning play in London’s West End.

Squid Game: The Experience, co-created by Superfly, also opened in New York City in October. It consisted of five challenges inspired by the show, with tickets for the experience starting at $29.

“We really obsess over the details of the set design, the stories, the characters,” Simon said. “People get so passionate about their favorite movies and TV shows that we don’t want to let them down when they walk in the door.”

Combined, Netflix’s 2024 immersive experiences have welcomed 7.5 million fans.

Chelito Rubio, strategy director at Saffron Brand Consultants, said that as Netflix’s subscriber base starts to plateau, these events make sense from a growth perspective. She likens the strategy to Airbnb’s pivot from accommodation to travel-based experiences.

“Watching a series is inherently passive, but by creating these experiences it allows Netflix to transform from a content platform into a social platform,” she said, noting that challenges could arise if fan expectations aren’t met.

“The backlash would be brutal,” she added. “If Netflix isn’t careful, it could dilute the brand and the expectations of the magic it will bring. Disney succeeds because it pours everything into creating magical experiences. Netflix should be prepared to do the same if it wants this to be a real success. You can’t half-ass the magic.”

No place like home

Netflix House certainly won’t be done by halves, bringing elements of all these experiences under one roof.

“It will allow us to build all of these immersive worlds that play off of each other,” said Simon.

He said Netflix is building the project with “flexibility” in mind to accommodate for future shows that might take on a “crazy life of their own,” as Stranger Things has done.

“We’ve built the infrastructure that allows us to exercise our creativity when it comes to storytelling, but also refresh it pretty regularly, whether that means the menu at the restaurant, the products in the retail store, or the experiences.” All this can be tailored based on what fans are talking about and sharing online.

It has yet to announce where Netflix House might pop up yet. “We’re very global in nature,” Simon said. “We’re figuring out where comes next.”