Fans of Emily in Paris who love the main character's fashion sense will be able to find her wardrobe more easily, thanks to a new partnership between Netflix and Google.
Netflix subscribers can scan Emily’s styles in Season 4 and find similar pieces by scanning her look with Google Lens, a feature that helps users perform image searches on the web. Fans who use Netflix’s ad layer will also see so-called “pause ads” that prompt them to scan an on-screen image that takes them to a specific “shop” page highlighting some of Emily’s clothes and accessories. The special ads that play will reference Emily’s photography talents. Google will also serve as a major sponsor for Season 4 of the series and will advertise in its previous three seasons.
“By organically leveraging the show’s fan base, and leveraging engaging formats, it provides our members with a creative and entertaining experience and showcases to our partners the scale with which we can build these unique opportunities with them,” said Magnu Hiran, Netflix’s VP of Marketing Partnerships, in a statement.
This partnership marks the first time Netflix has allowed a sponsor to “co-brand” a pause ad on the service, and the first time the streaming service has allowed title sponsorship on library content.
While traditional rivals like Disney, NBC and Warner Bros. Discovery have sold commercials for decades, Netflix is relatively new to the practice and has felt some pressure from advertisers and media agencies to prove the effectiveness of its nascent ad platform, which officially launched in 2022. Media buyers have in some cases resisted its efforts, noting that the company sought higher-than-usual CPMs, or rates of reach per 1,000 viewers, in recent initial negotiations. Netflix’s efforts have been complicated by a glut of new streaming inventory entering the market thanks to the launch of its own ad tier and that of rival Amazon Prime Video.
With some of these dynamics in place, media buyers say Netflix has in recent months begun to focus more on shows that more closely tie the product or service to the content the ads appear in, leveraging so-called “product placement” or “branded content.”
Netflix has long partnered with marketers to promote new seasons of its shows. Coca-Cola went so far as to bring back its new drink Coca-Cola for a new season of “Stranger Things,” and Procter & Gamble’s Old Spice teamed up with a bunch of funky scents for “The Witcher.”
“We’re thrilled to partner with Netflix and Emily in Paris to bring the joy of shopping right to your screen. With Google Lens, you can turn your TV screen into a personal fashion catwalk — effortlessly shopping the world’s fashions in one place,” said Stephanie Horton, Google’s senior director of global consumer marketing and commerce, in a statement. “Simply snap a photo with your phone, and a world of style and inspiration opens up.”
