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Netflix’s Peloton Pivot

The company’s Nike partnership suggests a path whereby a streaming pure-play can become a lifestyle brand.

Netflix founder and co-C.E.O. Reed Hastings.
Netflix founder and co-C.E.O. Reed Hastings. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Julia Alexander
January 3, 2023

Arguably the most eyebrow-raising new title to drop on Netflix at the end of 2022 wasn’t Noah Baumbach’s $100 million adaptation of the notoriously “unfilmable” White Noise, or the unwatchable Kevin Hart–Mark Wahlberg comedy Me Time. It was Nike fitness videos, sandwiched between a new Witcher spinoff and the latest season of The Circle. And while the platform’s Jane Fonda-ification may seem strange, the partnership makes sense for Netflix, which is trying to boost engagement, establish new channels for affinity marketing, and distinguish itself from HBO Max.