How Netflix is extending IP into live experiences

Hey folks - Joe here. Welcome to the 100th edition of The SEG3 Report.

When we started writing this newsletter two years ago (almost to the day!), our goal was simple - try to make sense of what happens when sport, entertainment, gaming & tech all intersect.

100 editions later…I think its safe to say things are moving faster than ever.

So before we dive into this week’s stories, a big thanks for reading along. Whether you’ve been reading since edition 1, or joined somewhere on the way, we appreciate you being along for the ride with us, and here’s to the next 100!

Right - enough sentimentality. Onto the good stuff.

This week's Spotlight: How Netflix Is Taking Its Biggest IP Into the Real World

In our last edition, we looked at the consumer-IP to content pipeline, which segues quite nicely into the next step: how to engage those IP fandoms.

From Stranger Things selling out 600 cinemas on New Year's Eve, to KPop Demon Hunters topping the box office after a month on the platform, to One Piece fans assembling in pirate costumes across four continents, Netflix is turning its biggest IP into live, communal events. We look at what's really driving the strategy, and what IP owners can steal from it.

Plus Speed Reads of:

Let’s dive into it ⤵️

For years, Netflix built its identity around keeping you on the sofa. And yet, today (March 10), One Piece Season 2 is heading to cinemas, with the first two episodes screening in over 200 theatres across the US, Canada, and Japan on the same day as its streaming premiere. 

Before that, the Stranger Things finale sold out thousands of showings on New Year's Eve. And before that, KPop Demon Hunters became Netflix's first title to hit number one at the domestic box office… after it had already been streaming for over a month.

The growing number of titles screening at theatres doesn’t mean Netflix has abandoned its core philosophy. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has repeatedly said that the company's goal remains to deliver "exclusive first-run movies on Netflix." The platform is not becoming a traditional studio. It is not chasing 90-day theatrical windows.

What Netflix is doing is using physical spaces as a multiplier rather than a marketplace.

The streamer uses physical moments like screenings, fan zones, parades, and immersive experiences to generate cultural heat, deepen fan connection, and extend the life of IP that has already proven itself on streaming. The physical world is a further celebration - an extension of that fandom.

KPop Demon Hunters is the clearest example of this logic in action. A sing-along version of the animated film was released in 1,700 theatres in August 2025, earning an estimated $19.2 million in the US and Canada despite having already been available on Netflix for over a month. Sarandos claimed the theatrical success happened "because it was released on Netflix first," crediting the platform's recommendation engine with building the audience that then showed up to sing along in cinemas.

In other words, the content built the fandom. The physical event gave fans somewhere to go with it.

Alongside the cinema screenings, fans are invited to global events running across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa — from a pirate bootcamp in Mexico City and a red carpet premiere in Los Angeles, to the transformation of Milan's Piazza Gae Aulenti into Loguetown, the mythical city where every pirate's destiny begins. In Tokyo, fans can join the Season 2 Fan Voyage. In Jakarta and Bangkok, multi-day immersive Grand Line experiences are running. In Taiwan, there's a full Straw Hats Grand Parade, with fans encouraged to arrive in costume.

Not only do these events function as marketing, but they also provide fans with another place to gather, translating digital experiences to real-world ones. This is the model SEGA’s Justin Scarpone talked about at SEG3 LA 2024: “Storytellers of the future will not have platform bias - they’ll look at it in the way of how can we tell stories to the maximum size audience in the most diverse way.”

Each of those events is a touchpoint that deepens community, creates shared memories, and gives people a reason to feel like One Piece belongs to them — not just as something they watch, but as something they're part of. And crucially, it all lands simultaneously with the streaming premiere, so wherever fans are watching, buying, or gathering, the IP is present in the same cultural moment.

For Netflix, the physical or live experience is additive. It deepens the cultural footprint of IP that already has an audience, rather than trying to build that audience from scratch.

This maps closely to what we've been tracking as the "fandom flywheel”, a concept Netflix itself leaned into in their Still Watching 2025 report, which we covered in Edition #83. 

Netflix still sees theatres as a bonus rather than the goal. But that framing undersells what's actually happening. Used well, the bonus is significant in terms of cultural weight for the IP itself, in the kind of shared experience that transforms passive viewers into active fans, and in the commercial partnerships that follow when a platform becomes the home for moments people genuinely care about.

There are three reasons this approach is gaining traction.

First, the IP earns the moment. None of these titles is being sent to cinemas or global fan events cold. One Piece has one of the most devoted fandoms in global entertainment. Stranger Things has been a cultural touchstone since 2016. KPop Demon Hunters became Netflix's most-watched movie ever on the strength of word of mouth. The physical event rewards the fandom and keeps them engaged.

Second, the format is designed for the audience, not the business model. The formats are built around how fans actually want to experience IP they love, whether that’s a sing-along or a pirate parade. This is fundamentally different from a standard theatrical run or a conventional broadcast deal, and it commands a different kind of engagement.

→ Ask yourself: What format serves the fan, not just what format serves the revenue model. The Stranger Things event generated $25M+ precisely because it was designed specifically as a celebration event, which is participatory, rather than a release.

Third, Netflix is building relationships with exhibitors rather than fighting them. The AMC partnership, which began with KPop Demon Hunters, represents a genuine shift. AMC CEO Adam Aron confirmed that the two companies have begun discussions about what other Netflix programming can be shown on AMC's giant screens, describing the working relationship as "easy, creative, and seamless." 

→ Remember: Whether you're a media brand or an entertainment IP, live and communal experiences represent an underutilised channel for deepening fan relationships.

As Derick Tsai wrote in Edition #84, sports, entertainment, and gaming are already structurally siblings: they all create universes where characters embody archetypes, rivalries become sagas, and fans sustain the story through ritual and participation. What Netflix is doing is building the cross-industry infrastructure for that kind of fandom.

For digital IP owners, the takeaway is that physical and live experiences still have unique power when they're positioned as fan moments rather than revenue events.

Communities built online will show up in person - and in costume - if you give them the right reason.

And fittingly, today also marks 100 days until SEG3 London 2026.

On 18-19 June, we’ll bring together leaders from across sport, entertainment, gaming and technology to explore themes like expanding IP, building fandom, and the platforms reshaping how audiences engage with culture.

Working on anything cool, or have a press release you would like us to cover? Send it in for the chance for it to be covered in next week’s edition!

That’s all for now, everyone - thanks again for reading the latest edition of The SEG3 Report. If you found it of interest, please do consider sharing with a colleague or friend who’d enjoy it too!