Brian Mahony’s Post

Nice work in here by Justin Fromm on gamers. When i read the headline my initial reaction is “well, of course they do.” But it reminds me of one of the key facts about the streaming revolution that I think gets overlooked – viewers are not monolithic. I think there’s a temptation to see sameness when we think of chasing 30M, 40M, 50M subs/viewers all the way up to the Netflix 200M+ goal. But when you look at adoption curves in media for any tech (HD, DVR, VOD, etc.) you always see a steep climb to about 50M and then the curve flattens. Audiences that lean younger, coastal, tech-savvy, more affluent, and educated tend to be first adopters, whereas there’s a good half of the country who lean the other way. Netflix set the bar and shot through this barrier to dizzying sub heights, largely by being a first mover with an insane value proposition. But it’s no surprise other streamers are struggling to break through these barriers. Part of what’s lost in not having a universal shared data source is fully understanding the audience segmentation of your current and potential consumers (and their viewing appetites), and a full view of the competitive landscape. This is a critical gap in the new measurement landscape that must be solved for the industry to move forward. Agree? P S. studies like Justin’s are a great way to illuminate a section of the viewing audience, and it’s great that he’s sharing!

I'm very excited to see how this idea performs! The home screen is the single most important screen in a streaming platform experience. The home screen has to function as an onboarding experience for new users and serve as the entry point for returning users. The experience needs to guide you and understand your preferences to present content that fits just what you're in the mood for right now. In contrast, at the most basic experience, it's a screen to pick up where you left off when you last binge-watched Traitors (shameless NBC plug and a fantastic show). Like a nurturing figure in your life, the home screen needs to know you while helping you. The article focuses less on the potential impact on the user experience and more on the Adtech opportunities. Still, I'm dying to see how they added trivia to this experience without increasing friction between the user and their content. Plus, I'm just a trivia nut. https://lnkd.in/dwB5iF7S

Magid has shared its predictions on the 2024 Entertainment Landscape! 🔮 Churn Trends: Rising Challenges ✨ Industry shift signals increased churn. ✨ Strategies are crucial for handling library hits, price hikes, and the rise of ad-supported services. Free Streaming vs. SVOD Premium Shift ✨ Free services encroach, pushing SVODs towards premium content. ✨ SVODs adopt an HBO-like focus on high-quality content. Old Becomes New (Differently) ✨ Consumers recreate cable-like bundles. Annual commitments reshape habits, fostering effective partnerships. Enemies to Frenemies Transformation ✨ Competitive partnerships for stability. ✨ Bundles with anchor partners boost overall value. Precision Marketing Dominates ✨ Key for streaming success in 2024. ✨ Smaller players focus on targeted campaigns; larger players leverage budgets. Do you agree with these predictions? I'd love to hear your thoughts on how these trends may shape 2024's streaming landscape. 🎬🌟 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eHJueXRf #neuco #streaming #2024

As we unveil our top five 2024 predictions for the entertainment landscape, it's clear that mastery of subscriber churn will determine the winners of the streaming wars. At Magid, our innovative SubScape™ analytic tool reveals that not all churn is detrimental; in fact, it's the "cholesterol of streaming" — there's good churn and bad.    SubScape not only can forecast individual service and market-wide churn 60 days out, but it predicts why subscribers will churn, giving product owners the information they need to mitigate it. For marketers, SubScape offers a powerful addition to acquisition and retention marketing to more surgically target higher ARPU subscribers. Read our latest blog to understand churn trends, why enemies will become frenemies, and how SVOD will need to respond as free ad-supported services gain ground. #churn #SVOD #entertainmentindustry #subscriber

🌟 Our recent recognition as a finalist at the #HbbTVAwards 2023 highlights jay’s impact in enhancing the #streaming experience. This is the perfect moment to reintroduce #jay and our vision:   𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 🔄 jay, developed by transfermedia production services GmbH, is a patented technology that seamlessly integrates scene-specific data into film content. This enables viewers to access real-time information about actors, locations, and products without disrupting their viewing experience.   𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 👀 With jay, there’s no need to google, all information is accessible first-screen. This ensures that the viewer's attention stays focused on the primary screen.   𝗘𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 🚀 Debuting on Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, jay engaged 70% of viewers on its first broadcast. This achievement underscores a boost in viewer engagement.   𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗶𝗻-𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 🛍️ jay introduces in-stream shopping, turning film into the interactive marketplace of the future. Merging entertainment with e-commerce, jay opens new revenue streams for VOD platforms, online retailers and advertisers.   𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 📊 jay provides platforms with deep user insights on viewers’ behaviour and interests, which can be utilised for personalised recommendations and targeted advertising.   𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 🌐 Our vision for jay extends beyond enhancing the current viewing experience; it aims to redefine how audiences interact with content on a global scale.   And while we didn't take home the award this time, we sincerely congratulate the winners ZDF & TeraVolt GmbH! This is well-deserved, and it’s been an honour to stand alongside you!   👉 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eqE5ZzBg #infotainment #instreamshopping #instream #InteractiveTV #jaymetadata #metadata #Xplore #techinnovation #firstscreen #HbbTVNaples #streaming #revenue #userdata

I had the privilege of attending the Streaming Media NYC: Next Is Now conference this week. My main takeaway? There’s a lot going on in streaming! I learned: • Andy Beach and Laura Florence are creating a very cool gamified second screen experience using Fremantle’s existing inventory on Buzzr • Tubi has a content discovery feature called Rabbit AI that lets customers prompt it with what they’re in the mood to watch, per Blake Bassett • Amazon employs audience-based creative advertising, where they can create different pieces of creative based on different audience segments and serve them in the same ad slot, per Danielle Carney  • But on a cost-per-second basis, buying advertising on linear TV is still the best bang for your buck, per Steve Ellis And that: • AI is already being used in so many ways, from filling out metadata gaps to helping with recommendations and content curation • there’s currently over 2,000 FAST channels (Free Ad-Supported TV channels, basically cable channels but via streaming platforms like Tubi or Connected TVs like Samsung instead) • 60% of consumers would rather save $$ and not pay for a subscription and just watch ads… • …but they can only really tolerate 90 seconds of ad time • OEMs (CTV manufacturers) have the ability to learn what you’re watching using AHR, which captures viewing data via pixels (!) But perhaps most importantly: • "Content is king, but data is the bloodline" If OEMs and media companies don’t join forces to share viewership data and form a unified front against Big Tech (Google, Amazon, Meta) then they will not survive the next ten years, per conference host & media industry cartographer Evan Shapīro Thank you to Evan and everyone who presented on an illuminating past few days! #streamingmedianyc #streamingmedia

📺 Recent rise in FAST services takes us full circle back to linear, passive and ad-supported channels. FAST channels are increasing in volume and consumer preference on platforms where they are available. 2020 is when FAST really took off and the trajectory since then has been astounding! Our friends at Plex, Inc. looked at their data and found the following: - FAST content consumed was just 6% of the total in 2020, versus 30% of all Plex content in 2022. - More than a billion minutes watched since January 1 of this year—the rough equivalent of 2,500 years of content if consecutively watched. 🤯 Consumer viewing habits have continued to evolve as streaming options and models advance. With the rise of FAST, consumers are getting free content (via ad exposure), content providers are getting new revenue channels and platforms are getting more content to engage users. #backtofast #fastisbest #safestreaming #fastchannels #adsupported #freemium #adbreaksaresnackbreaks

Streamer Bundling is Here to Stay. On average, the various bundling offers that are out there offer consumers a whopping 30-40% per platform discount. Significant savings for Users and better retention rates for Streamers. A win-win? Perhaps. However, it seems like the marketing and brand development investments for a majority of these streamers hasn't created much of a return on investment. How else can you explain consumers' utter fecklessness? These days, everyone can “take or leave” whatever streamer is being discussed. As a Creative, this is mildly disconcerting. Are we not being innovative, targeted, or focused on the user enough? Are we blind to out-of-the-box thinking? Pulling the same old levers out of habit? #Streaming #Brand #Marketing

Good reading for the weekend - Deloitte's Five trends for the 2023 Media and Entertainment industry We definitely live in "interesting" times - some quotes from the study: "Streaming has (...) disrupted profitability. Gone are the revenues enjoyed during the cable TV era (...). Audiences are fragmented, cancelling subscriptions is easy, and advertising has yet to unlock revenues. Content has only become more expensive to acquire and produce." Also: "A renewed focus on live entertainment could further aggregate audiences around key events. Still, streamers will likely be pressured to put their data assets to work, build out the ad platforms needed to deliver ads more effectively, and provide advertisers with better metrics on actual viewership." Read more in the paper at https://lnkd.in/ePJdrV7Q #trends #connectingthedots #connectingpeople

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