Stan’s $30m Showtime output deal: Has streaming boss Mike Sneesby ‘burnt his boats’?
Yesterday saw streaming player Stan announce a major content output with Showtime. Nic Christensen looks at the deal and what it means for both Stan and the wider market.
Back in 1519, during the Spanish conquest of Mexico, commander Hernán Cortés scuttled his ships, so that his men would have to conquer or die.
Yesterday some in the streaming market were wondering if Stan boss Mike Sneesby had just done the same thing.
In signing what is rumoured to be a $30m a year deal (when fully operational), Sneesby has made a clear sign of his intent in the Fairfax Media/Nine Entertainment joint venture.
Content aside, the Stan and Presto user experiences are both very poor. Not entirely surprising for Presto given its Foxtel association. But you’d expect a startup like Stan would invest in creating a user experience worthy of the content. Instead it looks and feels like a 90s video store. Perhaps it too has the baggage of Nine and Fairfax?
Agree with the comment above. Regardless of the content available, Netflix have put massive effort in to make sure the stream will always work. Which is so good that you don’t actually notice it. Until you try an inferior service like Stan or Presto (as well as the free to air streaming services).
Clearly from this investment Stan don’t see this as being a major part of their business. But where people will stick with Netflix, because they trust it to work they will just churn through the others based on who has a particular show on offer or a discount price.
I also agree with the above. I have Netflix and Presto. You could argue that the content on both is similar (movies on Presto are probably better/more current), but I’ll be cutting Presto due to the user experience. I watch it via my PS4, and every time I start it I have to put in a password. It also sometimes logs me out mid show. That never happens with Netflix and, ultimately, has made the difference.
Can anyone explain to me why TV and film still needs a business model based on exclusive rights? Something something radio…
Stan’s rebranding of the Amazon Prime Instant Video service continues to follow the Amazon SVOD company who also announced last month, it too was partnering with Showtime.
Nothing new here….
Again, if you use a VPN, you get more than just the Stan line-up on Amazon’s SVOD service.
Is $30m too much to pay for a better Amazon product just a click away?
http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/.....-to-prime/
A very bold move. But Stan didn’t really have much choice. It’s a crash through or crash approach really. With Netflix’s deep financial pockets and the strength of Foxtel behind Presto they are decidedly the third offering in a market that might only be big enough for two profitable players.
Wish Stan had invested some of that into their CDN / architecture, so that their service worked properly.
Oh well.
Note: I have 100mbps FTTP with a top-tier ISP, and also use other streaming services; looking at the network graphs, it’s pretty obvious where the problem is.
Agree with Keith and Experience above. I recently signed up to Stan on a three month trial and while I was very impressed by their catalogue (particularly movies), I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I was shocked by how rubbish the interface looked and felt on the PS4.
I do applaud them for having a real crack at the SVOD market but they’ve still got a long way to go.
I’d make the observation a good UX service for streaming needs a minor, and I mean minor, investment in serious hardware like Apple TV. Sony a company seeking to spin off PlayStation. Their R&D will hurt your experience.
The buzz I’ve heard about Stan and overall experience from colleagues who use the service is not great…hope the $30M investment paysoff..
One of the reasons I got foxtel was because of their showtime channel and was really keen to get into Billions. Ahh well, looks like its back to getting my fix from other *ahem* sources
I have read all the hot air about this deal. Hats off to Stan and CBS for great P.R. spin, but through a sober lense, this is hardly “the most significant deal in recent television history”. A very expensive contract for a handful of shows a year. Given there were 409 dramas produced in the U.S alone last year, there are plenty of pickings left for the other players in the Australian market, including Foxtel and Presto. In the meantime, Foxtel customers can continue to enjoy day and date releases of new seasons current Showtime titles such as “The Affair,” “Penny Dreadful” and “Ray Donovan.”
Stan is a funny name for a streaming service. Stan. The old man.