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It was short-form and short-lived: Jeffrey Katzenberg's Quibi streaming platform is to close after just six months. The mobile-first platform failed to gain traction with viewers and was further hit by COVID-19 as its on-the-go focus coincided with global lock-down. Recent moves to get the app on TV sets came too late, it seems.
Despite saying earlier in the year that subscriber 'pull forward' during lockdown would mean a slower Q3 and Q4, Netflix surprised some analysts this week by slightly under-performing its own guidance in Q3 2020. It reached 195m subscribers in the quarter and is predicting that it will finish the year with 201m subscribers. That means The Amp beat Netflix to the 200 milestone: this is the 200th issue. When The Amp first went out in November 2016, Netflix had fewer than 90m paying subscribers. Netflix is also hoping to increase its exposure in the world's second most populous nation with a promotion that could see all Indian consumers get free access to Netflix for a weekend.
The content majors' direct-to-consumer push came to a head this week with a number of groups undertaking major re-organisations to focus on streaming. Hot on the heels of Disney's reshuffle last week (see The Amp issue 199) which saw focus shift to direct, UK broadcaster ITV has followed suit, as has WarnerMedia/HBO and the recently-merged ViacomCBS.
Hybrid (mixed advertising/subscription) business models have been the other hot evolutionary trend in the entertainment business this year. The latest to adapt is Italy-based transactional video-on-demand platform Chili which is expanding into AVoD, allowing consumers to watch certain content free of charge, supported by advertising.
It may be spurious to call it a 'trend', but Discovery is to rebrand its Dplay streaming service to Discovery+ to coincide with the addition of a subscription tier. The ubiquity of the '+' suffix in the streaming world—ViacomCBS recently adopted Paramount+ in place of CBS All Access—surely means brand consultants need not apply in future.
Sports body UEFA, which has taken a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, is reportedly planning on reducing the prize fund for winners of its Champions League competitions for the next five years. And in a bid to further plug revenue gaps from the pandemic, select European clubs, including Liverpool and Manchester United are reportedly in talks to join a new FIFA-led European Premier League.
Finally, sports streamer DAZN, which holds the vast majority of the rights to the UEFA Champions League in Germany, is applying for a linear channel licence which will allow it to strike further broadcast partnerships with local operators.
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The proportion of new content airing on the UK's top channels reached its lowest point this year in May. Since then, the proportion of new content aired in the UK has risen, but levels seen in August and September 2020 are still significantly less than that of the year before.
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In case you missed this month's podcast: In episode four of season two of The Amp Podcast, Ampere's Daniel Gadher is joined by Richard Broughton, Toby Holleran, Annabel Yeomans and Alice Thorpe. Topics include key findings in Ampere's new Q3 wave of consumer research; the impact of COVID-19 on the pay TV industry; early growth for HBO Max, and Peacock; and unscripted formats on SVoD.
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Guy Bisson will present the latest documentary and factual entertainment trends as part of the documentary stream at the Duisburg Film Week.
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In a series of one-on-one executive interviews, Guy Bisson will explore the future of broadcasting, examining the challenges and opportunities of streaming and hybrid business models. Sharing their wisdom are: Faz Aftab, Director, Platform Distribution, ITV; Niels Baas, Managing Director, NLZiet; and Brian Fuhrer, SVP National And Cross Platform Leader, Nielsen.
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Synamedia and Ampere Analysis are proud to jointly host a webinar where we will present ground-breaking research that sheds new light on the battle against sports piracy. Drawing on a detailed understanding of consumer behaviour and attitudes, this webinar offers rights holders and pay TV operators innovative, yet practical, techniques for tackling illegal sports content consumption as well as regaining lost revenue.
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Now available to catch-up and stream for registered participants of MIPCOM Online+: Discover the key content trends in the year of COVID-19 and then listen in on the 'Distribution Super Panel' featuring Ruth Berry, Managing Director of ITV Studios; Moritz von Kruedener, Managing Director of Beta Film and Tim Mutimer; EVP EMEA, Banijay Rights. Guy Bisson asks the questions.
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In a presentation as part of this free three day online summit, Ampere Research Manager Daniel Gadher will be exploring some of our latest research looking at OTT growth and consumer behavior.
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"Katzenberg and CEO Whitman held a video call with investors [yesterday] afternoon to explain their decision to wind down the short-form video service after little more than six months. That meeting was followed by one with staff to share the news."
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"Netflix has just released the results for its most recent quarter, revealing that it slightly missed its own projections, adding 2.2 million customers worldwide over the last three months instead of the 2.5 million it predicted."
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"This won’t be the first time Netflix uses India as a test bed to explore new ideas. The company first flirted with the idea of a $2.7 mobile-only monthly plan in New Delhi before introducing it as a permanent tier in the country last year and then nearly a dozen markets. It has since tested even more pricing plans in the country."
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"While traditional linear programming remains ITV’s main source of revenue, the broadcaster said its on-demand unit will be the main area of growth."
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Two of WarnerMedia’s top executives are out as CEO looks to elevate streaming and HBO Max
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"News of ViacomCBS’s corporate changes also arrives just one week after Disney publicly announced its own major reorganization based around its streaming services. Like ViacomCBS, Disney wanted a more unified organization that will put extra emphasis on developing content for its streaming services, specifically Disney Plus."
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"Although TVoD will remain the core business, according to founder and CEO Giorgio Tacchia, Chili wants to benefit for the increasing demand for VoD services, by offering customers an extra service that offers legal access to content."
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"Discovery+’s subscription tier will be priced at £4.99 a month and will include access to the TV giant’s 13 channels; 30-day catch-up; originals such as Salvage Hunters: Design Classics; early releases such as World’s Greatest Cars; and box-sets featuring flagship brands like Gold Rush."
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"In addition to its strategic investment in Venn, Nexstar, which operates close to 200 TV stations in the US, has struck an exclusive local broadcasting deal to carry the company’s 24-hour linear network, while it will also have representation on Venn’s board of directors."
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"An overhaul of the Champions League has been mooted for years, with Agnelli, who is also the chairman of Italian champions Juventus, last month calling for alterations to the format of the competition from 2024, including around how clubs qualify to give them greater certainty on participation."
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"Sources said that FIFA, football's world governing body, had been involved in developing the new format, which is expected to comprise up to 18 teams, and involve fixtures played during the regular European season."
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"Sports streamer DAZN has applied for a linear distribution licence in Germany. The company has applied to the Berlin-Brandenburg media authority (Mabb), seeking permission to distribute its DAZN1 and DAZN2 linear channels in the country, with Germany already one of DAZN’s key markets."
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"Annabel Yeomans, senior analyst, said: “Peacock’s early adopters show that it has been successful in converting broadcast channel audiences — who are an older demographic and typically more difficult to convert — into SVOD subscribers, allowing it to play in an arena that is generally less competitive.""
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Article may require login: "It may not all be bad news for the multiplexes, however, according to Ampere Analysis analyst Peter Ingram. “Major film postponements, despite being bad news for cinema-chains short term, are still a vote of confidence from studios in cinemas,” he tells IBC365."
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"According to Ampere, 8% of US internet households have a subscription to HBO Max while 7% are using Peacock. Both streamers are, initially at least, reliant on pre-existing customers, with a significant number of users gaining access to the streamers via their cable contracts."
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NEM: 9-11 December 2020, Zagreb, Croatia**
If you are not currently a subscriber to The Amp and would like to receive subsequent issues, click here to subscribe for free.
News editor: Toby Holleran Managing editor: Guy Bisson
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