Dear reader, let it be known that if Netflix has a hit TV show, the streaming giant probably advertised the heck out of it.
Season three of Bridgerton, the Shonda Rhimes-produced historical romance, is no exception.
The new season, which had its first part release in May, was the most-streamed TV series that month, notching 5.5 billion viewing minutes. The following month, when part two of the season was released, the show racked up 9.3 billion viewing minutes, making it the most-watched show across any single month for the entire year so far.
Bridgerton is already slated for a fourth season, and Rhimes has hinted that many more seasons of Bridgerton are ahead, telling Deadline that she looks forward to bringing the series to screens “for years to come.”
While viewers were undoubtedly keen on tuning in to watch the show’s surprise engagements and torrid affairs, shows don’t always become hits overnight, and Netflix leaned heavily into marketing the series to encourage audiences to come back again and again since it first became a hit in 2020.
Ahead of this season’s release, the streamer leveraged consumer products aimed at women viewers and hosted themed activations around the globe to help build excitement after a two-year gap between seasons.
Wake up and smell the coffee
Merch has been a key part of Netflix’s strategy in keeping viewers engaged with the show’s high-society escapades. The show inked deals with more than 15 brands, including Allure Bridals, which produced Bridgerton-themed wedding dresses; Ruggable, which created a Regency-inspired rug collection; and Williams Sonoma, which released home goods and snacks fit for a tea party.
Beyond home decor and clothing, Netflix also broke into food, including working with International Delight to create Bridgerton-branded Berries & Crème and English Toffee creamers and Berries & Crème-flavored iced coffee, Josh Simon, Netflix’s VP, consumer products and live experiences, told Marketing Brew. The products, which retail for less than $5 and are available at Walmart and other grocery retailers, were a natural choice based on the focus of the show, he said.
“In the series itself, generally tea and food and entertaining play such a big part of the storyline,” he told us.
Outside of the US, Netflix expanded its consumer products partnerships, with product distribution in roughly 180 countries, Simon said. That included teaming up with Liverpool, a chain of department stores in Mexico, to offer Bridgerton-inspired women’s apparel and home goods, and commissioning the baked goods company Bauducco in Brazil to manufacture branded treats like biscuits.
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In all, the streamer tripled Bridgerton’s consumer products partners from Season 2, Simon said, expanding into markets including Italy and Southeast Asia.
The multipronged and global merch strategy for Bridgerton was designed to reach demographics that are sometimes not served through merchandising, which “is traditionally dominated by kids and family, preschool, [and] animated movies and TV series,” Simon said.
“Bridgerton really served an underserved audience of female fandom who are just as excited to express their love,” he said.
Pinch me, I must be dreaming
Merch isn’t the only thing Netflix scaled globally to promote Bridgerton. Since 2022, the streamer has hosted an experiential activation called “The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience,” which has popped up in nearly a dozen cities worldwide, including Montréal, New York, and Melbourne, Australia.
The pop-up ball, which features dancing, music, and plenty of photo ops, is one of several live experiences from the streamer that uses a touring model. Netflix has hosted roughly 50 activations in 25 cities around the world, Simon told Marketing Brew.
For Bridgerton fans, the Ball presents an opportunity to live out their high-society fantasies, including through their outfit selection, Simon said. “Ninety-plus percent of people who were showing up to that experience were dressing up in Regency attire,” he said.
Some fans may take it to an even more extreme level. A Brooklyn couple had a Bridgerton-themed wedding in London around the time of the Season 3 debut, which was featured in a four-part reality-show-type series that Netflix shared online. The bride wore an Allure Bridals dress, and the couple prepared for the wedding with the help of actors from the show. They even rode away in a horse-drawn carriage.
While the Season 3 finale has premiered, Netflix will keep its experiential marketing push going. The first two locations of the streamer’s permanent activation, Netflix House, will open at the King of Prussia mall in Pennsylvania and the Galleria Dallas mall in Texas next year, and will feature Bridgerton installations in addition to experiences from other Netflix properties, Simon told us.
“The idea of being able to now open these permanent experiences [was] definitely inspired by and driven from what we learned in the world of Bridgerton,” he said.