Joe Epstein’s Post

Rumble With the Bundle! With its new MyPlan program, Verizon seems to understand better than most that we are in the relationship economy and not the attention economy, putting some distance between it and its rivals. (via Variety+: https://lnkd.in/gpgbytAJ) SVOD churn has been increasing (along with price….just saying) and audience attention has forever fragmented across gaming, short form video, music, podcasts, reading, live streaming, etc. The MyPlan program "provides mix-and-match flexibility for home internet, live TV, entertainment and connected home offerings with pricing guaranteed for up to four years and “no hidden fees” or equipment charges", you know like audiences are asking for. Seems pretty on target considering data coming out of Hub Research’s biannual study on streaming (https://lnkd.in/ghSirGzA): 📌 59% of users want a “service to manage and pay for all of my subscriptions in one place” 📌📌 Top subscriptions within that bundle go beyond streaming to reflect the broadening of those use cases (and fragmentation): internet access (71%), Netflix (65%), mobile phone plan (52%), streaming audio (43%), and ‘network bundle w live tv’ (40%). As expected, among men 18-24, choose a gaming subscription over broadcast vMVPD at 44%. Verizon's smart to lean into audience-centrism and recognize their customer relationships as a critical differentiator in a crowded, undifferentiated sector. After all, myPlan doesn’t need to exist - audiences have been cobbling together subscriptions all on their own for some time. But leaning into the RELATIONSHIP ECONOMY > making more noise in the attention economy will pay off.

The other day I expressed interest a St Elmos Fire sequel after seeing Andrew McCarthy's documentary "Brat" (https://lnkd.in/gbmjbntV). With the news of a possible SPACEBALLS sequel with Josh Gad and Mel Brooks... my Gen X nostalgia is at ludicrous speed. https://lnkd.in/gBpTEw9D

With COPA America and Euro 2024 underway, I got my grubby mitts on the Men In Blazers/YouGov “From Sea To Shining FC” deep dive into America's growing affinity for the beautiful game. I read A LOT of research and this one is chock full of dynamic insights. But if there was a Canton or Springfield for research reports, this report would be behind glass, given MiB founder Roger Bennett’s unique POV about the sport he loves. Consider this my love letter to the author and his observations: ⚽ On Messi: “The world’s greatest men’s soccer player, Lionel Messi, now wears jorts and has become the world’s most photographed Florida Man.” ⚽⚽ On the Origins of American Fandom: "I know a family of West Ham fans who watched that cinematic masterpiece, “Green Street Hooligans,” and because of that one slightly dodgy Elijah Wood film, they are headed to Florida to watch their team train this summer.” ⚽⚽⚽ On soccer’s demographics in the US: “Much like following TikTok trends and using the word “rizz” in conversation, American soccer fandom tends to skew younger.” ⚽⚽⚽⚽ On the etymology and volume of team fandom: “Although supporting multiple teams could (JE: I think it "is" and the author is being kind) be an unspeakable offense in England, it’s not uncommon among American sports fans….If you are an English soccer fan, the club you support is often predetermined at birth, like your eye color or your dairy allergy. [For fans in America,] it's like burgers at In-N-Out, there’s always room for one more: clubs can still tell their stories and attract American supporters.” ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽ On the surprising fandom of (checks notes) Fulham by Americans: “That quarter-century of welcoming players who don’t spell ‘color’ or ‘neighbor’ with that superfluous English ‘u,’ has propelled Fulham’s popularity among American fans, which is surprisingly high for a club of its size and performance.” Soccer has been the Sport of The Future in the US for some time given 26.5% of American kids play the game (per the Aspen Institute), the growth of World Cup viewership, increased accessibility of Premier and Championship League games and growth in MLS. If this research report is any indication, evidently Men In Blazers is our new obsession's Narrator of the Future. I literally want all my research reports coming from Roger. https://lnkd.in/gCSam7Bv

I know this POV dates me terribly as Gen X, but yes to St Elmos Fire 2: Electric Bugaloo. Sign me up. Will sneak some Bartles & James wine colors into the theaters, find a pair of vintage Girbaud jeans, etc.

MTC audiences (particularly Hispanic audience) driving the recent surge at the BO (naturally). Godzilla x Kong - 35% Hispanic Bad Boys Ride or Die - 44% Black and 26% Hispanic Inside Out 2 - 36% Hispanic And how is this for a nugget: Per McKinsey, "Latino viewership doubles when Latinos are represented on- or off-screen (meaning talent behind the camera — writers, directors and producers)". https://lnkd.in/gQdz4KgS

With the Summer Movie Season getting off to an awful start, Sadness, Anger, Fear, Disgust, Anxiety (a lot of it) all showed up at the Box Office this weekend. But so did Joy. And Joy won out with an expected $145M opening weekend to start and an overall definite recommend score of 72%. Joy. https://lnkd.in/gUWepePN

Couple of nuggets came out of Antenna this morning. Bad News: the number of net new sub adds for Q124 in all streaming was down approx 42% from Q423, down more than 40% YoY for the first quarter. Total sub adds were certainly healthy enough - more than 55M subscribers but (serial) churn remains a pesky problem. Good News: Ad supported subscriptions (and gross ads) remain on a strong upward trajectory. Three cheers for a dual revenue model and improving ARPU. 

❄ Bundle Up. ❄ While summer is upon us, expect streamers to continue leaning into a cross-rival bundle up strategy to drive new sub growth while limiting churn. ⛄ Per research gurus Magid, “predictive rates of churn [were] 16% lower due to the increased availability of bundle plans. Bundles also boosted customer intent to keep a subscription longer than six months by 15%.” ⛄⛄ Also interesting - all this bundling will elevate some of the smaller, even more niche services (ie, AppleTV+, Crunchyroll, Shudder are cited) that will be included into specific bundle offerings to target specific user types and/or differentiate bundles from one another. https://lnkd.in/gmHgPWdZ

Some welcome news at the box office. 💰 $54M, on target for tracking. 🎟 Demos pt1 : 53% Male / 47% Female with 44% of the audience between 18-34 years old (58% under 35). 🎟 🎟 Demos pt 2: 42% Black moviegoers, 30% Caucasian, 18% Hispanic and Latino and 10% Asian American/other. 📽 Impulse Buy: 72% of tickets sold were bought day of/walk up. 🔥 And Sony's crack digital team getting it DONE: "For Bad Boys 4, the super social media universe averages with cast are running above norms by 15% at 693.7M across TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram combined which include Smith’s social machine which is throttling videos with over 150M views.” 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏