Issue 138  17th November 2017

Disney’s streaming service has won, and it hasn’t even launched yet

Content is the great differentiator when choosing which streaming service to spend money on. Audiences will naturally gravitate toward whatever service has the most programming they want to watch. That's why Disney launching their own dedicated streaming service was such big news. Since 2006, the company has acquired Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. Much of the content from these studios will likely end up as exclusives to their service. Which is bad news for Netflix, as their exclusivity deal has also been ended. When the service launches, Disney will be well positioned as a competitor to Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. Especially when you consider the ecosystem of entertainment that is Disney...

We’re talking about a 360-degree view of intellectual-property exploitation that hasn’t really been seen before. A world in which a new Star Wars movie hits theaters, and then is available for streaming only on Disney’s service. The same service that is the exclusive home for new Star Wars television shows. And then that same company will offer fans the opportunity to actually visit the lands they’re watching through Disney’s theme parks, and then read about them in books and comics put out by Disney publishers. It’s a holistic ecosystem of entertainment, all under one corporate umbrella, with each division pushing audiences to engage with every other division.

How Crunchyroll is helping build a bundle for niche streaming channels

Vrv is one of the first digital bundles for niche streaming services. It contains 10 channels that focus on niche but passionate communities, with the flagship channel being Crunchyroll. It also includes Rooster Teeth’s First, cable network AMC’s horror channel Shudder and movie studio Legendary’s two digital publishers Nerdist and Geek & Sundry. Viewers can pay a flat rate for the entire bundle, or for individual channels. There's also a free ad-supported tier.

“We think there’s an opportunity to deliver the best of both worlds: the aggregation of a Netflix-type of experience, but also ensure that the partner brands stand on solid footing and would not be lost in the experience. If the only things that are left are Netflix, Hulu and Matter, the industry has lost something. Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, Shudder — these brands matter to some people.” - Arlen Marmel, Vrv GM

Netflix Knows Some Very Strange Things About Public Viewing Habits

It seems that more and more people are watching video on the road. Netflix have completed a survey into their customer's viewing habits, they've discovered that 67 percent of Americans now watch their service out in the world. Just last year Netflix added a feature for downloading video to devices for offline viewing, something that's undoubtedly increased the amount of video people are watching on the move. Smartphones have changed our idea of where public spaces end and personal spaces begin, and with that in mind — the survey has yielded some interesting results.

44 percent of the respondents reported that they’d caught someone snooping on their screen, and 22 percent were embarrassed by what they were watching. Netflix also found that 11 percent of those surveyed had a movie or TV show spoiled because they peeked at someone else’s screen in public and 22 percent of public streamers reported they have cried while viewing.

Snapchat’s epic strategy flip-flop

Hold onto your doggy ears, Snapchat users. Things are about to get interesting.

Snapchat is going through major changes. Strategy, design, and the philosophy of both their product and business are on the table. Creators and influencers may now be able to make money. Users outside of North America and Europe will play more of a role. Oh, and the product may even become usable for non-teens, opening up a new world for aging millennials and grandmas alike.

These changes mark a full 180 degree shift from Snapchat as we know it. I'm not sure we'll recognize what comes out the other side. And will we recognize grandma with the senior citizen filter? So many questions.

Snap Inc has had major difficulty competing with Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp. Growth is crawling, revenue is falling, and their spectacle flop left them with $40 million of unsold product. All this points to the need to change, but it may cost Snapchat its future.