Building the Netflix brand: Franchise logic, authorship, and distinction in the promotion of Stranger Things

Antunes, Filipa (2025) Building the Netflix brand: Franchise logic, authorship, and distinction in the promotion of Stranger Things. Television and New Media. ISSN 1527-4764

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Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	netflix,streaming,media promotion,franchising,authorship,interviews,branding,brand narratives,duffer brothers,stranger things,media industries,franchises,branding,paratexts,cultural studies,visual arts and performing arts ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3316
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Interdisciplinary Institute for the Humanities
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Comics Studies Research Group
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	17 Jan 2025 01:06
Last Modified:	12 Feb 2025 10:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/98234
DOI:	10.1177/15274764251315704

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