Kotaku and Gizmodo embed ‘easter eggs’ inside Netflix native content
Allure Media’s gaming and technology properties Kotaku and Gizmodo have launched a native content series for Netflix which has inbuilt puzzles and promotions, inside it to increase reader engagement.
Often referred to as ‘Easter eggs’ in gaming, the additional content is aimed to help the streaming service promote its new series Stranger Things, and includes things such as a $6000 prize for a reader to win home entertainment gear by completing a series of puzzles within the articles.
The native article covers a variety of areas including the history of arcade game Polybius, a story on Trial games and another on game GTA V quest.
“We conceived our Stranger Things editorial series exploring the stranger moments in video game and unexplained science history,” said Danny Allen, publisher of Gizmodo/Kotaku.
“Raising awareness in a contextually relevant way to our highly engaged readership, it was also complemented by a tailored, high-impact display schedule and editorial social media boosts.”
Kotaku hired a team of expert “riddle masters, including Matthew Lee, co-founder of the Enigma Room escape game in Sydney, Sean Gardiner and Gareth White (PhD researchers at the Sydney University School of Mathematics and Statistics), indie games developer John Kane from Gritfish, and local gaming expert Jeremy ‘Junglist’ Ray.
The series is only half-way through its roll-out, with more articles to come, but Allure is claiming it has already seen a 30% increase in dwell time on the native articles along with strong engagement in the reader comments.
“What I’ve been excited about is that the amplification layer we pitched into Mullen Lowe Profero and Netflix has already exceeded our expectations,” said Allen. “Designed especially for Stranger Things, it’s one of the cooler promotions I’ve personally ever been involved in.”
People were dwelling for longer because they were looking for things on the page. What does that achieve? This article is a joke.
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