How Netflix seduces you with pictures

Even today, in a world where we find ourselves with possibly too much content and not enough attention for all that content, there are still ways to create powerful imagery that can still be described in a thousand words.

Why pictures are powerful

Those that create content these days only have a second or two to grab a user's attention. The brain can absorb and process a picture in milliseconds, giving more time to gain interest instead of losing it. That makes images and pictures one of the most effective ways to convince someone to proceed further and explore more.

The proof is in the data

Yet this doesn't come from any and every image that's out there. A proper framework is required to build the right type of image every single time. This comes from blending together what’s worked in the past with huge data sets and combining it with creative elements. This leads to being able to tell people to look further at the story and why it aligns with them, just from that first perfect image.

Netflix

Nearly 10 years ago, research was done by Netflix that their artwork for TV shows was a huge factor in determining whether someone would watch a show or not. In fact, it was users' primary focus when browsing through Netflix, looking for something to watch. Keep in mind that only around two seconds were spent for consideration with each title and that the image was the deciding factor nearly every time.

With so much more content available these days, the information still holds true, and it's all about being able to capture that person's interest before they doom scroll to the next option, or worse, exit out and go into a competitor platform.

More research was done with the launch of a Documentary by Netflix titled "The Short Game". It was used to test out several imagery options that would hopefully lead to users watching the documentary and thus became a key piece of advertising. Eventually, for this case, the right imagery was found and then used primarily, and it was noted that the best imagery led to much higher engagement and streaming hours as well.

This led to the combination of a framework and a system that always ends up testing out different image options and tracking the engagement metrics behind it to continue to learn what may be the ultimate type of imagery to use. It has also developed some common trends, regardless of what the actual genres and themes of the programming were.

Emotions Still Matter

Specifically, emotions that can be seen via a human face. The more complex and obvious those emotions are, the better the results are at showcasing what type of content lies beyond that image. It helps provide critical information quickly to enable users to make the right type of decisions faster. For example, if they see faces with happy smiles and friendly poses, then it tends to showcase a feel-good comedy. If you see serious and intense passionate faces in power poses, they will be epic dramas meant to invoke a certain feeling as well.

Localising Your Images Matters As Well

Some shows will always have enough engagement that the whole globe is watching. However, for those that don't make it into that upper echelon, regionalising the artwork of the content can help to improve overall engagement. Part of the testing mentioned above can gauge which ends up being the best in each region, and in turn, you can make relevant changes in designing future images in that region.

This works well when there are series or movies with various characters or storylines that may appeal better to some audiences over others, and maybe there's a favourite character in Western countries. In contrast, another character can be portrayed in the image in non-Western countries to promote the international star power they may have as well.

We Like Our Bad Guys

Or should I say, more like we like our conflict and drama. Images that end up working the best are those that showcase recognisable characters from the series immediately and not necessarily the protagonist, but the one that’s the main cause of conflict. This works well even for children-focused content as well as action movies the most.

Showing Ensemble Casts All At Once Doesn’t Work Anymore

Even if the show revolves around an ensemble cast, it's better as the seasons go by to showcase images that focus on a primary and fan-favourite character over showing the whole entire cast for every promotional piece of artwork. This trend states that anything over three people starts to drag the performance further.

It can come from overwhelming users to start the show as it represents a complex set of interwoven stories or simply just too many characters to follow at once, making watching the content feel like a chore versus entertainment.

In The End

The imagery continues to be the main driving factor in whether people watch the content or not and this has spilt over to social media content that finds itself producing content that's more video-based these days as well. It's evident that amateur content creators focus almost as much effort on their thumbnail image as on the video content itself. It helps to capture the minds of users to click on that content and watch it, similar to how critical it has become for those that get their content from Netflix as well. Other professional streaming providers have all paid attention to this and have also ensured their imagery is a top priority to influence users and invoke certain emotions.

It also has a positive compounding effect because as more users start to find the content they like through imagery, it helps creators produce more relatable effective imagery for the future and better recommend content for the user to locate. All in all, this makes the whole experience more enjoyable than searching through a seemingly limitless digital library.