Beyond the app: how you build loyalty that lasts

In that market, loyalty has become scarce. It's a question we ask ourselves regularly: how do you build a relationship with someone who has nothing more than a screen and a couch between themselves and your brand? And maybe more importantly: how do you stop them switching before you've even had the chance to build anything?

Most players in this market still give the same answer. More content, sharper recommendations, better prices. That was the right move for years. But today's market calls for something else.

The assumption behind the default move is that loyalty is a matter of supply. Give people enough content, enough convenience, enough discount, and they'll stay. But that logic breaks the moment a competitor offers the same, cheaper or faster. Content and price are easy to copy. A feeling is not.

That's the trap most platforms are still in. They keep investing in the transaction, the subscription, the next feature, while the thing that actually keeps people around, a sense of belonging, gets left on the table. Discounts and functional extras might win attention for a moment, but not loyalty.

The better play is to stop seeing your platform as a content library, and start seeing it as an ecosystem. Not pure content distribution, but a community people feel part of.

That means connecting the digital experience to something tangible. Not just what someone watches, but what that experience gets them in the real world. The difference between being a subscriber and being a VIP. Between an account with a monthly charge and a seat in the inner circle.

We built exactly that for Videoland, and it's live: Videoland Extra.

The idea was to do away with the feeling of being "just a subscriber." Instead, we wanted viewers to feel like a VIP. Because loyalty is emotion. It comes down to a customer who feels valued, who feels part of something.

Videoland Extra does that by linking the digital viewing experience to exclusive, physical extras. Take De Club van Sinterklaas: kids sit on the couch every evening waiting for the next episode, itching to go to the live concert. Videoland Extra makes sure the whole family can be there, with discounts and priority access. Or when Gooische Vrouwen partners with Ben & Jerry's, viewers get a discount on that same ice cream. That's the platform connecting the digital world to the physical one.

This model builds on something we'd already seen work. With RTL Extra, a platform we developed a few years back, customers who'd bought tickets for something like The Voice of Holland stayed loyal for years afterward. The combination of exclusive digital content and access to physical extras, like a ticket to that one concert, creates a bond people don't want to give up.

If your platform is still competing purely on content and price, ask yourself what happens the moment a competitor matches both. Content and price are easy to copy. What people belong to is not.

Build the moment that connects your platform to someone's real life, and you are not just retaining a subscriber. You are building the kind of loyalty a cheaper deal cannot undo.