Netflix needed to launch Fuller House in Japan and due to talent restrictions, had to set up a live talk show set in the Netflix offices in Beverly Hills. Prodigium was hired to execute the high-pressure production with utmost care. The promotion garnered 40,000 live interactive viewers across multiple streaming platforms in Japan – with not a single second of connection issues.
Launching “Fuller House” in Japan for Netflix
Case Study: Netflix’ Fuller House Live Launch
Netflix had a new program, Fuller House, which is the sequel to the famed 1990s show Full House. One of their primary international markets was Japan – and they needed to localize the launch promotion. So Netflix teamed up with Japanese digital agency, Flag, to run a live streaming show with one of the stars from Full House that returned to Fuller House: Jodie Sweetin. Sweetin was well-liked in Japan and had a high recognition factor from the original show. The plan was to host a live talk show with Jodie where she would talk to Japanese influencers, TV hosts and other personalities, and promote the show directly to the audience in a semi-interactive format.
The challenge? Sweetin could not come to Japan. As an ad-hoc solution, we set up a talk show set in LA at the Netflix office in Beverly Hills. Since our co-founder Hiroki is Japanese, Prodigium was the perfect liason between the U.S. client (Netflix), the Japanese agency (Flag) and the mixed U.S./Japanese group of on-screen talent.
Status
Complete
Going Live – Across Time Zones, with Interactive Chats
One of the key challenges was the real time translation behind the scenes – between the director and the live switcher. The director was Japanese, and our entire live media team including camera operators were American.
Prodigium’s bi-lingual producer would sit next to the switcher who controls multiple camera feeds to live edit the show while streaming, and made sure to translate what the director needed, in real time. Our experienced live team would switch between the right shots, and the camera operators were informed via English instructions to their headsets.
The live feed garnered 40,000 simultaneous viewers with massive audience engagement on NicoNico and other platforms – these platforms allow for comments-in-picture, so we’d observe “waves” of Japanese comments as jokes landed and the hosts pulled off their skills.
