The Future of ZeeXOnline & Netflix
The perfect time for Zama to change strategy
On June 12th, 2020 Zamangwe ‘ZeeXOnline’ Marubelela released her first YouTube video in collaboration with streaming giant Netflix. In March of 2022, the YouTuber has been involved in two Netflix sponsored videos; one on her own channel reviewing Bridgerton and another on Neo Rapetsoa’s channel reviewing Young, Famous & African. These Netflix collaborations come at a time when Marubelela is due for a content strategy pivot.
I don’t want to labor too much on the history of Marubelela’s content but it is important for the argument I make that the YouTuber is due for a change in content strategy.
Entering the YouTube scene in December 2016, Marubelela primarily made beauty content; makeup and hair. Soon after, she saw that it was not sustainable to make only beauty content and she started incorporating vlogs into her channel. The diversification of content was not only a good decision to fill time in between makeup tutorials but also allowed Marubelela to gain an audience of people who were not interested in watching a mascara review — people like myself.
In 2018, the vlogs and beauty tutorials became somewhat monotonous and Marubelela started incorporating more “sit down” videos in her channel. The end of 2019 saw a decline, across the YouTube world, in views and engagement for beauty related videos. What did Marubelela do when this happened? Changed her beauty videos to incorporate more “chit chat” elements in order to keep viewers watching and interested.
From this brief history it is clear that Marubelela has always had the foresight and ingenuity to change her content strategy when the need arose. In my observation, Marubelela has entered into an era where she can no longer save her beauty videos. I feel the need to expand on this statement for fear of being misunderstood.
It is clear that brands are still approaching Marubelela to make beauty videos (especially hair videos) as she is still making this kind of content. However, the beauty related videos she has released over the past year have been hybrid ‘beauty-chitchat’ videos and she hardly does any YouTube videos that are purely beauty. It’s not that there is no longer money in beauty videos it’s that there is no longer anything new that Marubelela can do to ensure that engagement and viewership grows on beauty videos. It is for this reason that I make the argument that a content strategy change is necessary.
The question then is — what else can she do?
Anyone who has followed Marubelela for any amount of time knows that she is an avid watcher of series and reality tv shows and always has funny and interesting takes on the characters of the shows she is watching. Very often her commentary of a series or reality tv show plays out on Twitter and her followers are always eagerly engaging her takes and commentary as she reacts to whatever she is watching.
The two Netflix sponsored videos released this month that I mentioned in the opening of this article have given Marubelela the perfect platform to play out her usual Twitter commentary about a show but now she has done that on YouTube. Very often influencers fail to translate something that works on Twitter onto YouTube but Marubelela has done this seamlessly.
It is important to note that these two Netflix sponsored videos are not the first time she has spoken about a tv show on her YouTube channel as she has made mentioned of Love Is Blind and Temptation Island SA in her YouTube videos before but these were not the main focus of the videos.
Where am I going with this? I think the next big thing for Marubelela is a focus on making content around tv shows, series and reality shows.
We are certainly entering a ‘content age’ in which there are now many players trying to assert their place in the streaming market. Showmax and Netflix currently dominate that market and Amazon Prime Video is also gearing up to infiltrate the South African market. Every time any one of these platforms have a new show coming out they need to engage influencers to market the shows and Marubelela can position herself to be the go-to influencer when a platform needs to promote a new show.
Netflix has a UK-based podcast called 10/10 Would Recommend which focuses on reviewing, pre-empting and creating conversations around Netflix shows. This podcast is hosted by 2 black British women, Tolly Shoneye and Gena-mour Barrett. This is just one podcast in an entire catalogue of podcasts that Netflix has commissioned to create content based on Netflix shows.
The market that Netflix has not yet commissioned a podcast for is the African market. We are probably the only continent where Netflix is actively investing original content in where there is no podcast for Netflix content. If and when Netflix decides to commission a podcast that will cater for the African market, Marubelela would be the perfect candidate to take up the job.
All in all, there is tons of content to be made in the South African YouTube scene that has a specific focus on series, tv shows and reality tv and Marubelela has the personality to be a big player in this space however I do think she has to give up beauty to make this happen. The vlogs and sit down videos on her channel still have longevity and I would not want her to stop making those however, the time for wig reviews may have to come to an end.
Watching ZeeXOnline in the past 6 months, it has been clear to me that there are no more growth opportunities in beauty content. I struggled greatly in thinking about what she could possibly do if she completely deserted beauty content and I think I’ve found what that next step could be.
