Netflix Wants to Own Online News About Its Content, Too

Netflix Wants to Own Online News About Its Content, Too

BY MIA GALUPPO | HollywoodReporter.Com

Troy Warren for CNT #Digital  #Business

A new website, Tudum, will host news like renewals and consumer content about series and films, marking the latest editorial effort by the streaming giant.

Netflix is aiming to boost its growing editorial efforts with the launch of a new website titled Tudum, the name being a further riff on the sound that accompanies the company’s logo when subscribers open the streaming site.

The new website shares its name with what the company billed as a “global fan event”that took place in September. It offered exclusive first looks and interviews covering its series and films, and was broadcast across Netflix’s YouTube channels, Twitter and Twitch.

The Tudum website marks a new push into the world of publishing by the streaming giant, which already runs several editorial and social channels like Strong Black Lead and Geeked, the former focusing on Netflix content by and starring Black creatives and the latter focusing on genre films and series.

Editorial channels also include the comedy-focused Netflix Is a Joke and the Latinx-centered Con Todo, among others. Netflix also publishes an awards-focused print and digital magazine, Queue, which launched in August 2019. An official blog dedicated to its original DVD business — DVD.com — is also run under the tech giant.

For the past couple of years, Netflix has been branching out with editorial offerings. This June, the streamer hired Michelle Lee, Allure’s former top editor, for a newly created editorial and publishing role in which she oversees the team focused on social media channels, podcasts and other initiatives. Vanity Fair veteran Krista Smith jumped to Netflix, with recent bylines in Queue, and the streamer also hired Bitch Media’s editor in chief Evette Dionne as editorial and publishing manager. A growing number of writers and journalists are now employed by the streaming service.

Tudum will function under the streamer’s marketing division, run by Bozoma Saint John. “Netflix is a part of the cultural zeitgeist, and what makes my job so exciting is that through the work we do, I get to constantly connect with fans all over the world through their favorite shows and movies,” wrote Saint John in a blog post announcing the site.

The content on Tudum will be curated according to a subscriber’s viewing habits. Meaning, a subscriber who is watching Bridgerton will be fed stories about the Shonda Rhimes-produced series when they open Tudum on devices where they are logged in to Netflix account. Tudum can be accessed worldwide but is currently available only in English.

While Tudum is still in its nascent stages, according to the CMO it will expand to include news (renewals, release dates), as well as consumer coverage. Examples offered of questions that will be answered by future Tudum editorial content include SEO-driven types of coverage like, “Where can I find the Squid Game tracksuit?” and “Where else have I seen the cast of The Witcher?”

Tudum, Saint John writes, is meant to “dive deeper into the stories they love, fuel their obsessions and start new conversations.”

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By Troy Warren

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