Movies
The Sexy Side of Netflix's Christmas Movie Lineup
2024-12-14
For the second week of December, the running theme of Netflix’s global top ten performing movies might not come as a complete surprise. One finds "That Christmas," a Pixar-adjacent holiday flick centered around Santa stuck in a snowstorm. Another is "A Royal Date for Christmas," which is quite self-explanatory. And then there's 'Twas the Text Before Christmas,' a story about a text that, you guessed it, disrupts the Christmas of a couple of attractive individuals. In fact, more than half of the list has some connection to the holiday season. However, it's the movie at the very top that indicates where the streaming platform is headed: Lindsay Lohan's "Our Little Secret" - as it is one of several Christmas titles produced by Netflix this year. This Christmas rom-com follows the familiar beats of what was traditionally done by cable TV networks but is now seen as fertile ground for streaming services.

Branding and Market Dominance

For years, brands like Hallmark and Lifetime have dominated the market for simple Christmas fare. Since 1951's original Christmas opera "Amahl & The Night Visitors," they have churned out hundreds of movies. These movies typically stick to a standard format, aiming for the same hokey plot elements of family, togetherness, and Christmas magic. So formulaic is this standard that last year, the New York Times was able to summarize them into just a few tweaked elements that are common in almost all their films.Despite the derision they receive, this formula works. According to Nielsen, Hallmark has been the most-watched entertainment network for adult women during the holiday season for the past decade. And according to Vulture, Hallmark's "Countdown to Christmas" programming is one of the last examples of linear TV actually improving its ratings year-over-year, making it "TV's last great basic-cable channel."

Netflix's Imitation Strategy

Netflix is now cranking out new romantic holiday content to emulate Hallmark's successful low-cost, easy-to-watch entertainment formula with the help of Lindsay Lohan. Market researcher Parrot Analytics Brandon Katz calls it "laundry folding programming," but it's not an insult. It's a comforting type of media that can withstand any level of criticism and pays off for networks, especially during the holidays.Katz's company reports that the demand for such movies is only growing. So it makes sense that Netflix has borrowed some "strategic elements" from Hallmark. "Not only are we getting a greater volume of holiday movies every holiday season, but audiences' appetite for these movies is also increasing," he said.Alongside "Our Little Secret," there are titles like "Hot Frosty," "The Merry Gentlemen," and "Meet Me Next Christmas" as Netflix's forays into this space. These movies now generate "between eight and nine figures" in revenue for streaming services each winter.

Targeting a Younger Demographic

While Netflix is working to capitalize on Christmas, it's not simply following Hallmark's lead. Courting a younger demographic with different viewing habits and tastes, the results are often not what one would expect from a traditional grandma's Christmas movie.For example, "The Merry Gentlemen" follows an all-male, mostly shirtless strip troupe. Meanwhile, "Hot Frosty" transforms the story of Frosty the Snowman into one about a shirtless, muscular handyman.Entertainment journalist Ann Marie Collymore said, "If Hallmark started pushing that, it would have been a calamity because its brand is 'safe.' But that means Netflix can 'push a little bit further.'"Katherine Singh, a Toronto-based pop-culture reporter, explained that traditional cable television has always targeted a demographic that appreciates it as background entertainment. "I think of my aunt who puts it on right on a Saturday. She's puttering around the house. She just likes it on in the background," she said. To stand out, Netflix has been looking for glitzier offerings, more buzzworthy names, and occasionally, raunchier plots.

Changing Viewing Habits

Along with the attention and headlines, Netflix's titles also encourage a different kind of viewing - possibly more attractive to those looking through a list of titles rather than channel surfing."I think you'll see more intentional viewership with Netflix and these streamers," Singh said. "So it might be a Millennial or Gen Z who's sitting down on a Friday or Saturday night and they just want to tune in and be entertained."This shift in holiday entertainment shows how Netflix is adapting to changing viewer preferences and capitalizing on the holiday market.
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