An Executive Voices Blog by Lisa Sweeney, Australia and New Zealand Managing Director for Licensing International

Streaming giants have spent the last decade building global audiences at speed, and the next frontier is deepening engagement beyond the screen with products, experiences, and partnerships that keep fans connected between seasons, drops, and premieres.

In the Australian and New Zealand market, specifically, that means knowing which retail channels matter for each audience segment, how to time programs to local retail calendars, and how to build collaborations that feel native rather than imported.

To accomplish this, global companies are looking for local expertise. Netflix, for example, has appointed Merchantwise Group to manage its licensing and consumer products program across Australia and New Zealand, signalling a sharper push to turn fandom into physical products, retail moments, and locally relevant brand collaborations.

Under the agreement, Merchantwise will work with Netflix’s local and global teams to develop and execute licensing, retail, and brand partnership opportunities spanning key titles and franchises, with an emphasis on strong retail execution in market.

For Merchantwise Group CEO Alan Schauder, the brief is clear—translate Netflix’s ability to create cultural moments into consumer brands that can win at shelf, online, and through collaborations in the region.

“Netflix is the most dynamic and influential force in entertainment today, with an unrivalled ability to create cultural moments that translate into powerhouse consumer brands,” Schauder said, pointing to a slate led by breakout titles such as KPop Demon Hunters alongside enduring global brands like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, and One Piece.

The partnership spans a broad range of consumer product categories, and the language coming through consistently across coverage is “locally relevant partnerships” paired with “retail execution,” which is often the difference between a range that looks good on paper and one that moves quickly in real stores.

Netflix has already tested high-impact local activations, including a Stranger Things partnership with KFC Australia in Sydney. Moving forward, the streamer’s efforts in the region will include specialist agencies focused on entertainment and gaming as well as food and lifestyle, a setup designed to move from strategy to execution across multiple categories without losing local nuance, according to reporting from TV Blackbox.

Merchantwise describes itself as an independent brand management, marketing, and media agency, headquartered in Australia with offices across Australia, Europe, and China, and a track record across entertainment, gaming, food, and lifestyle brands.

While specific product lines, retailers, and launch dates have not been detailed in the initial announcement coverage, the mandate is broad enough to support everything from classic licensed categories through to brand collaborations and retail campaigns tied to major title moments.

Either way, Netflix’s move to appoint a dedicated local lead across Australia and New Zealand suggests the company sees the region as a market where local execution, not just global scale, will determine how big consumer products can become.

Licensing International is the leading trade organization for the $369+ billion global brand licensing industry. Licensing International’s mission is to foster the growth and expansion of brand licensing around the world, raise the level of professionalism for licensing practitioners, and create greater awareness of the benefits of licensing to the business community at large.