House of Ads: The Advertising Strategy Behind Netflix's Top Show



Screenshot from washingtonpost.com, 3/3/16.
Strategy Overview
The Netflix darling started running display ads on February 26th, a week prior to the premiere of Season 4. It wasn’t until the day of the premiere, March 4th, that the show ramped up their efforts dramatically across channels, releasing 43 of the 49 desktop creatives in the opening weekend alone (3/4-3/6). Topping desktop impressions during this onslaught was March 6th, as Team Underwood hit 182 sites, spending $90K+.
While they did run mobile and video ads, it was a much smaller volume compared to their desktop strategy.

How are they buying?
Over the last 30 days, the majority of House of Card’s desktop impressions were purchased through Double Click Bid Manager. 8% of their desktop impressions were purchased directly, targeting 16 sites with the top 2 being nytimes.com (59% of impressions purchased direct) and gq.com (98% of impressions purchased direct). Here’s a breakdown of their buying strategy, and the impression share attributed per partner:

Source: Pathmatics US Desktop Data, 2/14/16-3/14/16.
Who are they targeting?


An out-of-the-box thinker with a love for disruptive ideas, Jordan's background spans PR and events for the wedding & hospitality industry in Los Angeles and Scottsdale and also launching one of America's most unique food trucks. She jumped from the food start-up scene to the tech start-up scene in 2013 to join one of the most unique companies in ad tech. Jordan is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication.
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