A global fan festival that has evolved into a live broadcast

Netflix held its global fan event, “Tudum 2025: The Live Event,” on May 31 (local time) at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, USA, to unite fans around the world.

‘Tudum 2025: The Live Event’ was Netflix's first global fan event broadcast live on its platform, showcasing the company's commitment to shifting its strategy from content-centric to fan community-centric.

Thousands of fans gathered at the venue, while viewers around the world watched simultaneously on the Netflix platform. The event was hosted by Sofia Carson and featured fan-centric programs such as an immersive N-shaped red carpet, title-specific photo zones, and real-time stage greetings. Performances by Lady Gaga and Indian rapper Hanumancaine, as well as appearances by cast members from popular series like “Squid Game,” “Stranger Things,” “Wednesday,” and “One Piece,” also drew significant attention.

The evolution of Tudum, which began in Brazil in 2020

Tudum is Netflix's fan festival that began in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2020, with over 50,000 attendees at the offline event. Following the pandemic, it shifted to a YouTube live stream format and expanded in 2023 to a global event combining offline and digital streaming in Brazil.

In 2025, Netflix held Tudum for the first time in Los Angeles, USA, streaming it live on its platform and evolving Tudum into an “experience-driven showcase” that goes beyond content reveals.

A Circular Strategy Connecting Content, Platform, and Fandom

Netflix aims to build an organic cycle between content, platform, and fandom through Tudum. Content forms a fandom, which strengthens platform loyalty, and the platform provides new experiences to fans. This marks a strategic shift for Netflix, positioning itself not just as a video streaming platform but as the hub of a global fan community.

In April 2025, CEO Ted Sarandos defined the fan culture of younger generations as a “spending-time” experience in an interview. This distinguishes it from the “killing-time” consumption seen on platforms like YouTube, emphasizing that Netflix's content encourages deep immersion and meaningful engagement among users.

"Netflix is the 'spending-time business' and calls social video/YouTube the 'killing-time business'"

The Tudum event went beyond simply unveiling Netflix's major works for the second half of the year, incorporating various features that encourage direct fan participation, such as real-time voting, interaction, merchandise commerce, and social campaigns. This can be seen as a strategic attempt by Netflix to transition to a “fan economy,” in line with Ted Sarandos' statement in March that “Netflix provides a better revenue model for creators than YouTube,” emphasizing fan-based content production.

"I think we're a better monetization model."

Differentiation strategy from competing OTTs: Experience-centric branding...and securing technological capabilities

In the OTT market, Netflix is positioning “brand experience” as its core differentiation strategy amid fierce competition with Disney+, Apple TV+, and Amazon Prime Video. This strategy goes beyond simply securing more content or adjusting subscription prices. Netflix is now striving to provide subscribers with an experience that goes beyond simply ‘watching’ content, aiming to create an experience where subscribers can “experience” content together and emotionally connect with it.

Tudum is a prime example of this direction. It goes beyond a simple content announcement, combining direct communication between stars and fans, live streaming, music performances, and fan-centric interactive spaces to build Netflix's unique brand culture. Fans participate in the event as both consumers of content and co-creators of the brand, forming an identity as “Netflix fans.”

Disney+ expands the universes of major IPs like Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar through large-scale fan events like the D23 Expo, while Amazon Prime Video hosts massive offline showcases centered around mega-projects like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” However, these events are closer to marketing events focused on specific works rather than “fan-centric platform experiences.”

In contrast, Netflix has adopted real-time communication with its fanbase as a key strategy through its Tudum event. Notably, the 2025 Tudum event was live-streamed on Netflix's own platform rather than YouTube, which holds symbolic significance.

Through this event, Netflix demonstrated that it is not merely a content streaming platform but a technology-driven media company that integrates real-time technology and user experience. The event applied various technological elements such as a distributed server structure for real-time streaming, global simultaneous broadcasts, automatic subtitle generation and translation, and user-customized interactions, and provided these to subscribers in real time.

This suggests that Netflix has the technological foundation to expand into sports broadcasting, interactive advertising, and live music shows in the future. In fact, Tudum is said to have provided important data-based insights for Netflix's real-time advertising experiments and premium advertising product design.

Above all, Netflix is using this event to foster subscriber loyalty to its platform. Fans come to the platform for the content, but they stay for the emotional connection and community experience. Tudum is functioning as the central axis of a branded experience that transforms subscribers from one-time viewers into long-term users.

Tudum is a prototype for the future of media

Ultimately, Netflix Tudum 2025 is not a content showcase but a “prototype of media” event that encapsulates Netflix's future strategy. The structure where fans, the platform, technology, content, global, and local elements converge within a single event symbolizes the upcoming shift in the global media industry toward an “experience-centric” model.

Netflix is no longer just a streaming platform for content but is evolving into a fan-experience-based brand platform centered on fan participation, connection, and memory. Tudum will be the most symbolic device at the heart of this evolution, opening the door to Netflix's next decade.