Brands Reaped the Benefits of Cobra Kai’s Netflix Bump, Even Without Ads

Coors Banquet Beer, Dell and Mercedes-Benz all got a big boost when YouTube original series Cobra Kai migrated to Netflix last summer. The brands contained within the show as part of product placements were exposed to millions more consumers, many of which don’t watch any linear television, according to new data from Nielsen. The biggest boost went to Coors Banquet Beer, the drink of choice for Cobra Kai's Johnny Lawrence, played by William Zabka. Product placement and integrations for the beer brand delivered more than 169 million impressions among viewers 21 years old and older in the first four weeks that the first two seasons of the series were available on Netflix, according to Nielsen. In a four-week period, Nielsen measured the total audience exposed to Coors either through linear TV or through watching Cobra Kai, and of the 70.6 million total viewers, nearly 20% of them were exposed just through Cobra Kai episodes. Also, there was only an 8% overlap among those watching both Cobra Kai on Netflix and seeing Coors ads on linear television. More than 10% of Cobra Kai viewers didn’t watch any linear television at all, Nielsen found, underscoring the value product placements may have for certain marketers looking to reach those consumers. “Branded integrations in [subscription video on demand] SVOD programming don’t just provide exposure in an ad-free environment,” Nielsen wrote in a report about the results. “They reach audiences that traditional TV typically doesn’t. SVOD programs tent to reach lighter viewers of traditional TV, which makes the incremental reach of SVOD significant.” New Nielsen streaming metric The effectiveness of product placement in Cobra Kai, which has become a Netflix hit now that it migrated to the new streaming service, is part of a new metric from Nielsen designed to help measure the effectiveness of SVOD brand integrations against traditional advertising, with metrics like delivery and incremental reach. The measurement firm uses a traditional 30-second spot as a baseline and then adjusts how it weighs impressions, depending on the duration of the product placement and the kind of integration type. No Office? No Problem, Says Netflix The metric is designed to help marketers better understand the effectiveness of product placements as they seek out arrangements to get their brands in front of consumers who continue to cut the cord and often choose ad-free entertainment options. Marketers have long known that consumers are moving over to streaming, where advertising inventory can either be scarce or expensive. Last December, streaming accounted for almost a quarter of total TV viewing time in streaming-capable homes, up from about one-fifth a year ago, Nielsen said Tuesday. In an average week in December 2020, Americans streamed more than 132 billion minutes—with dominant SVOD services like Netflix and Amazon Prime accounting for more than half of that time spent. For that reason, marketers have increasingly looked at product placement and integrations to help them access consumers who may not be reachable on linear TV or ad-supported streaming alone. “Every brand wants to be on Netflix,” Harley Block, formerly the svp, brand partnerships, Viacom Digital, previously told Adweek. “It’s an ad-free environment, but it’s where a massive amount of attention is. Since you can’t buy ads there, how can we help brand partners get into that environment in a way that makes sense?” On Cobra Kai, other brands besides Coors were also able to expand their reach considerably through integrations in the series. Nielsen found that Mercedes-Benz, whose vehicles are front-and-center at lead character Daniel LaRusso’s chain of car dealerships, was able to get more than 43 million impressions among viewers in the key 18-49 demographic within the first four weeks of Cobra Kai being on Netflix. Meanwhile, Dell—whose computers are used by Lawrence—was able to capture more than 121 million impressions in the same demographic in the same timeframe, Nielsen said. Not every product placement delivers the same level of incremental reach, and linear TV continues to deliver the scale advertisers rely on. Of the 8.2 million total viewers who watched either Mercedes-Benz commercials on linear television or in a Cobra Kai episode, just over 10% of the total audience was reached through Cobra Kai episodes, while nearly 90% were exposed through linear television. Tecate’s AI-Powered Music Video Integration Shows a New Model for Product Placement