Netflix has massively impacted the consumption of television shows and films since being founded in 1997. From a simple tool for binge watching to producing award-winning, high-caliber films, the streaming giant gets views galore. A survey by Roku and National Research Group across 2,200 US-based individuals found that 45% of total respondents said they would prefer to stream a new movie at home over going to the theater. With increased privacy, a lower price, and 24/7 access, it’s easy to see why. ln Q3 2024, the company had a reported 282 million subscribers worldwide. For beauty brands, that big of an audience is too good to pass up, with a growing number of collaborations emerging over the past few years.
Bridgerton, complete with its extravagant sets and costuming, is proving especially popular for partnerships. In December 2021, Pat McGrath Labs launched a collection featuring an eye shadow palette and blush trio, as well as two highlighters, which sold out in a few days. In spring of 2022, a second themed collection was released with a blush and highlighter, as well as an eyeshadow palette, plus a body shimmer, eyeliner, and three lipsticks. Aside from having colorways that reflected the makeup looks of the show, packaging was also designed with covetable elements like bee and silhouette embossing on eyeshadows and gold bows on lipstick packaging.
Beekman 1802 announced a holiday collection, including QVC-exclusive gift sets in November 2022. Items included whipped body creams with yellow spoons, held in a Bridgerton bee on the cap and Lady Whistledown bar soaps, wrapped in “Issue 4 Society Papers” packaging. “Collaborating with Netflix was a great opportunity for Beekman 1802 as we look to build brand awareness and tap into culture. Top original series such as Bridgerton not only have massive recognition, but the stories truly become a part of our lives and conversation,” Brad Farrell, Chief Marketing Officer, tells BeautyMatter. “To bring to life a successful collection with Netflix, we created products that not only tapped into the characters (our best-selling soaps wrapped in actual Lady Whistledown society papers), but the most iconic and memorable moments of the season (“I burn for you” candle). The result was selling out of our top SKUS, securing 46 press placements, and influencer posts resulting in 1.8 billion impressions.”
Lush debuted a six-piece, limited-edition range to coincide with the show’s third season, complete with crown imprinted bath bombs, bee-shaped body balms, and a floral fragrance. “Bridgerton is a global phenomenon with incredible reach. We love the intriguing, decadent escapism that it brings to viewers, which aligns perfectly with what fans have come to know and expect from Lush. The product range showcases the lovely, rich fragrances we use at Lush, and we’re thrilled to share them with a wider audience,” Melody Morton, Creative Concepts Director at Lush, explained. The brand also turned its Oxford Circus flagship into a Bridgerton house for two weeks of its launch month (May 2024). Overall, the Lush x Bridgerton collaboration had an Earned Media Value (EMV) of $193,700
That same month, Bath & Body Works launched a collection of 30 products with five new scents. “Fans of Bridgerton are connected to this idea of immersive and decadent escapism, which we are trying to deliver through the power of fragrance,” Maurice Cooper, Bath & Body Works’ Chief Customer Officer, stated to WWD. “This show has a fantastic viewership, and in the same way that in 2021, Bridgerton was Netflix’s second-most-watched show. The show brings with it a younger, more diverse audience, which is fueling our growth.” Bath & Body Works is continuing to fuel that growth. In July and August of that same year, they released a two-part Stranger Things collection.
In October 2024, they followed with an Emily in Paris collection of 50 products. As with Bridgerton, Emily in Paris’s fashion-focused, escapist, feel-good watching makes for a great inspiration when it comes to beauty products, with fragrances like Champagne in Paris (with notes of elderberry fizz, lily of the valley, and champagne spritz), complete with a rose icon on the packaging to reference its title character’s costume in the new season. "This collaboration is a celebration of Emily in Paris and the characters' bold spirits and impeccable style," stated Betsy Schumacher, Chief Merchandising Officer, Bath & Body Works. "We thoughtfully designed every aspect of this collection to capture the essence of what fans love most about Emily in Paris, from Emily's signature lipstick to her vintage camera phone case. We've created an experience that feels true to the show, and with Bath & Body Works' fragrance quality and breadth of choice, ensuring fans and customers alike will be delighted through the power of fragrance."
On the subject of Stranger Things, in July 2022, MAC Cosmetics released a collection including a black lip gloss as a nod to the Upside Down (the dystopian alternative dimension portrayed in the show) and an eyeshadow palette with a Hawkins High yearbook cover to reference the main characters’ school.
The show has clocked in 1.15 billion hours viewed since its release, making for an undeniably large audience. “We know how devoted the fanbase for the show is and wanted to make sure we got every detail just right,” MAC’s Executive Director of Global Trends, Cat Quinn, commented. “Amy [Forsythe, Stranger Things makeup department head] would give us a sneak peak of the shades and colors being used on set as well as the looks for each character, and the [Stranger Things] production teams would fill us in on the major locations and themes of the season. We layered these into the collection and worked through every formula with Amy and our Netflix partners to make sure it felt authentic to the show.”
In October 2024, Fenty Beauty collaborated with the animated series Arcane (based on the League of Legends video game) on a collection of limited-edition shades of the brand’s best-selling lip gloss, highlighter, mascara, and eyeliner SKUs. The shades were inspired by the makeup looks worn by the show’s four female leads, boldly bright and impactful. The release was commemorated with in-person events in Los Angeles, Paris, the Middle East, and China. Given that League of Legends has over 128 million monthly users, it’s a large audience to tap into, while Fenty Beauty’s 13 million Instagram followers would likewise be a welcome addition to the gaming world.
For the third and final season of YA (Young Adult) novel adaption To All The Boys, Netflix partnered with Laneige and Kitsch on sets of their best-selling SKUs in packaging to make the teenage heart beat faster. Revolution Beauty released a collection for fantasy film The School of Good and Evil with color changing lip glosses and illustrations of fantastical creatures on its packaging. Lottie London made its debut into the fragrance category through a partnership with Outer Banks, an action-adventure teen show set in a coastal town. The first eau de parfum, Paradise on Earth was inspired by the glowing landscapes depicted on the show while the second, Pogue Life, in reference to the Pogues or working-class locals of the area, is described as “ embodying the friendship and adventurous spirit of the show”.
“Lottie London’s first foray into fragrance couldn’t be with a more exciting partner than Netflix’s Outer Banks. Fragrance is a category that we have toyed with for Lottie London over the past few years and now feels like the right time as our Gen Z consumers are more engaged with scents than ever—#Perfumetok has over 6 million views on TikTok! I am excited to see what this category could evolve into for Lottie London!” stated Charlotte Knight, founder and CEO of Lottie London.
The creative potential of these collaborations is also expanding beyond bodycare and color cosmetics. FLO launched a pair of period panties in collaboration with Sex Education, updating the product’s colorway and packaging. FLO’s stance on injecting a sense of humor into the period care category aligns with the show centered around the sometimes awkward or uncomfortable moments of navigating sexual intimacy as a teenager (and adult).
Aside from the massive reach that partnering with a Netflix show can bring a beauty brand, it also brings a timely sensibility of tapping into the most buzzworthy pop culture moments. Although any content hosted on a streaming platform may have a longer shelf life than a theatrical release, a majority of the collections released are limited-edition, harnessing the ever-so-ripe moment of online hype and virality, which can begin to slightly wane a few weeks into release. Nonetheless, for the sheer number of audience members watching these shows alone, it’s a worthwhile commercial opportunity.
Furthermore, as evidenced by the example of Pat McGrath Labs, a successful collaboration can be renewed for the next season, making these partnerships go beyond a one-hit wonder. Customers acquired through such collections also have the potential to become loyal buyers of the future. According to Forbes, Lush saw a 25% increase in monthly subscribers, with 20% of sales courtesy of new customers, since launching its Bridgerton collection, while the show-themed products were responsible for 4% of Bath & Body Works’ total company sales.
Currently these collaborations find their home online and in-store. While Netflix currently does not offer in-viewing shopping across all shows, it does have an official merch store Netflix.shop and launched an As Seen on Netflix pop-up shop for one day in London and Birmingham (although beauty was absent from this space), with proceeds benefitting UK mental health charity mind. For Emily in Paris, the company partnered with Google Lens to allow viewers to shop fashion from screen to store. The feature was integrated into the ad-supported tier of Netflix. “By organically tapping into the fandom of the show, and leveraging engaging formats, it offers our members a creative and entertaining experience and showcases to our partners the breadth at which we can build these unique opportunities with them,” stated Magno Herran, Vice President of Marketing Partnerships for Netflix. Whether such adoptions can be rendered for beauty products in the future remains to be seen.
The brands harnessing the medium to its full potential are being considerate of the show’s audience and how their own creations might resonate with them (especially being aware of age and interests), as well as tying their SKUs into the show’s characters, storylines, and aesthetics in a meaningful way. As opposed to paid product placement, which very rarely feels authentic to the storyline of a show, collaborations access its creative world without intruding. This is where productions with a strong aesthetic—be it the ’80s nostalgia of Stranger Things or the emo stylings of Arcane—stand out as the ones to align with.
