Netflix Reveals New Font

Netflix is abandoning Gotham and rolling out its own custom typeface.

In addition to rolling out a slew of new titles to its library, streaming giant Netflix has also announced the addition of a new font: Netflix Sans. The streaming platform, which was founded in 1997 and has spread across the world rapidly since the company introduced streaming services to its platform in 2007, has unveiled a new custom typeface to make its identity more “ownable.”

“With the global nature of Netflix‘s business, font licensing can get quite expensive,” Netflix brand design lead Noah Nathan told It’s Nice That. “Developing this typeface not only created an ownable and unique element for the brand’s aesthetic…but saves the company millions of dollars a year as foundries move towards impression-based licensing for their typefaces in many digital advertising spaces.”

Developed by the in-house design team in partnership with foundry Dalton Maag, Netflix Sans features uppercase proportions designed to appear “cinematic” and lowercase proportions “compact and efficient” for a design created with display aesthetics and more pragmatic functionality in mind. Nathan describes the new typeface as “clean and neutral” and an “approachable geometric grotesque.”

The new typeface comes in different weights including regular, light, thin, medium, bold and black.

While the font was designed largely to save the company millions in marketing dollars, as using fonts often attracts large licensing fees, the streaming platform’s has grown to a reported $3.29 billion, representing 33% growth in the fourth fiscal quarter. This translates to an added 41 cents per share in value, or a 25% rise in membership year over year.

Netflix has undoubtedly found major success, with the streaming service reaching 117 million subscribers worldwide during its fourth quarter in 2017. During that time, Netflix picked up 8.33 million new members, with nearly 2 million of those new subscribers being in the U.S. alone. The other 6.36 million were in international markets across the globe, further showcasing the platforms broad reach.

The company, which isn’t yet showing any signs of slowing, says that it expects to gain another 6.35 million subscribers worldwide. To keep the momentum going, it’s prepared to spend $7.5 billion on new content in 2018.