In a year confined to the couch, Netflix took us on a wild ride: a 3-minute surreal sing-along to celebrate the end of a strange year. As the main asset of a funny and lighter Year In Review campaign for such a heavy year, the film looked back at collective 2020 feels, taking inspiration from fan tweets and turning them into relatable lyrics. 'We Watched It All' was a hit with fans, solidifying Netflix's ability to act less like a brand and more like a fan, reaching more than 4 MM organic views in one week.

Netflix wanted to celebrate the end of a year that didn’t have much to celebrate. So as the world spent 2020 stuck on the couch, we had to acknowledge our unique role of helping fans visit other worlds, through stories. In a tense climate, it was important to opt for humor. The focus was thanking the biggest fans, so it was important to act like a fellow fan instead of a preachy brand, who didn’t just ‘understand’ the 2020 experience, but had also gone along for the ride.

A 3-minute surreal sing-along to celebrate the end of a strange year. After receiving a prompt that he’s “finished Netflix”, a relatable fan is taken on an immersive metaphorical trip down memory lane; back through everything he and the wider audience had watched and felt, together. As this hero moves through his retrospective journey, the lyrics and bizarre visuals make fan-centric references to some of 2020’s most iconic and talked about moments.

To create the lyrics, first, working with the Netflix social listening team, we mapped the year's fan sentiment on social. Then, along with the comedian and songwriter Matt Buechele, who also starred the film, we turned the most engaging tweets into relatable lyrics about each show.

As one of this year’s few entertainment options, Netflix is both a source of sanity, but also endless scrolling. Audiences had spent so many hours in front of screens that there was a collective feeling that everything had been watched on the platform. Even memes started to emerge, playing around with the possibility of reaching the end of the platform. Based on this behavior, our strategy was to avoid somber feelings of 2020, turning viewing into a celebration, a joyful playlist in an otherwise melancholy year.

In December 2020, the film was teased with a back-and-forth on social between our star and songwriter, Matt Buechele, and Netflix.

Then, we launched the film on Netflix's social networks — Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

This was followed up with AR filters, and music track releases, to keep the audience fully immersed in the moment.

Capturing the audience's sentiment in 2020, We Watched it All outperformed mega-title content counterparts on Netflix's social channels.

4MM organic views in 1 week

99,89% positive sentiment

180k engagements in 24 hours

"Netflix song celebrates users who ‘Watched It All’" - Nerdist

"A catchy Broadway-style show tune" - Shots

Editor's pick on Ad Age.

On Google Trends, we noticed the year's peak for the expression "Thank you Netflix" precisely in the week of the film's release, showing the feeling of gratitude for the content and the journey throughout the year along with Netflix.

And, most importantly, the project received thousands of high-praise in audience comments as a demonstration that Netflix understands its fans, like:

“The best 2020 rewind ever. Period.”

“This made me forget that I was in 2020”

“This speaks to me during this year”

“Finally… a song about me”