Stranger Things season 4 has generated over $27.5 million in brand placement value and an audience of 0.6 billion so far according to YouGov Stream, with Coca-Cola seeing the highest placement value of any brand at $3.4m.
Coca-Cola’s highest performing asset was the Coke can at $1.66m, followed by the Coke bottle at $711k and the Coke fountain cup at $466k.
Coca-Cola’s total valuation across all assets saw them receive almost six times the value of Pepsi, who’s own placement valuation was $586k, and way ahead of other soft drink brands such as 7UP ($145k), Sprite ($70k), and Dr Pepper ($50k).
Also seeing high performance value in the UK and US were Sony ($2.4m), Reebok ($2.4m), and Lacoste ($2.3m).
Lacoste’s value was exclusively driven by their White Polo Shirt being worn by Jason Carver (portrayed by Mason Dye), which he sported for the entirety of episode 2 of the show.
YouGov Stream data tells us that the audience for this episode was equally split between male (49%) and female (51%), but skewed towards millennials, who made up a third of the audience (33%) compared to just over quarter who were gen-z (27%).
Brands’ favourite character appears to have been Max Mayfield, played by Sadie Sink, as she drove over $5m in net placement value for brands including Sony ($2.4m), Vans ($1.4m), Hang Ten ($1.2m), and Swatch ($200k).
The most favoured episode for product placement was episode 9, meanwhile, which drove over $7.3m of value and featured more than 35 different brands over it’s two and a half hour long run time.
Associate director of product at YouGov, Dominic Prince, said: “What we’re seeing in the data released today is an extremely healthy return provided by Netflix for the brands featured in Stranger Things.
"Coke, as reportedly the largest buyers of product placement in the show, will be happy with over $3.4m in advertising value driven by their efforts in the show. As will the likes of Reebok, Sony, and Jif Peanut Butter.
"Note that the audience figures for Stranger Things will only continue to grow over time, and consequently so will these valuations.
"It’s also important to look at this data in the context of the broadening push by SVOD services to offset production costs by creating new revenue streams.
"Our total valuation of $27.5m demonstrates the value that this media can generate for brands. A blue-chip streamer like Stranger Things is effectively a marketing tool with monumental reach for brands looking to target even the most stubborn, ad-averse consumers.”
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