The Crown trailer and the Netflix button secret sauce

This week the folks at Netflix are speaking at CES 2016 about how their success is based in gadgets and remote controls. Believe it or not, Netflix suggests that they've had "extensive success" with Netflix buttons on remotes. Imagine how much easier it makes searching for a streaming service on your smart device when there's literally a Netflix button – a hardware button with the word NETFLIX on it – staring you in the face. "Our consumer electronic company partners have been critical to our success," said company CEO Reed Hastings.

What is it about Netflix – and, as another example, a service like Spotify, for streaming music – that makes one brand so ubiquitous? When it comes to a hardware company, like Apple, you know the name because of the hardware. You know what an iPhone is because the devices in Apple's hardware family have been consistent, and people associate the iPhone name with smartphones in general.

The same is true of Netflix. The company suggests that a significant bit of their success right now is owed to their hardware company partners. Imagine how much easier it makes to keep your company's name brand in users' minds when that name brand is present in their lives every single day.

Every single time they pick up their smart TV remote, they see the name brand Netflix.

The key here isn't Netflix pushing their own name directly to users. This was made clear by a Netflix box made in 2007 that never made it past the first hardware phases. It wouldn't work on its own.

Instead, Netflix needs to work with 3rd-party companies for that cross-brand excellence.

Hastings also made mention that they're making certain they're drawing in more than just the brand-loving crowds. They're going to have over 600 hours of original programming this year (2016) – Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Crown, and a whole lot more.

The Crown, if you've not heard of it already, will be a dramatization of the life and times of Queen Elizabeth. We'll hear more on that in the near future.

UPDATE: Above you'll see the first public trailer for The Crown just released this morning. You are now watching the throne.