Streaming service Stan’s content boss admits ‘we underestimated the brand power of Netflix’
L:R Jason Burrows, Nick Forward, Rob Gibson
The content boss of streaming service Stan has admitted he underestimated the brand strength of global streaming giant Netflix in Australia and the competition it would bring.
Speaking at the Screen Forever conference in Melbourne Nick Forward director of content and product told the room: “I think I underestimated the strength of Netflix as a brand both locally and the existing brand before it launched (officially) here.
“(There is) the need to have a regular beat of brand new shows, that are first in the country – whether that is a commission like No Activity or whether it is picking up something from Sony etc – but it is important to having one or two shows that are territory premieres each month, and I probably underestimated that.”
Forward was speaking on a panel with head of original development Ron Gibson, who noted local original content it was important to how Stan differentiated itself from rivals Netflix and Presto.
“It is a crucial part of establishing our brand within the market,” said Gibson. “Shows that identify who we are to subscribers and potential subscribers… just being able to bring something as fresh as (Australian comedy) No Activity to market says something about who we are and encourages them to come on board.”
The declaration comes just a week after Roy Morgan data showed Netflix has passed the million household mark in Australia in just over six months.
Stan has been refusing to release data on house many active paid subscribers it has but has told the market that since its launch 500,000 have registered for the service.
“We underestimated it,” said Forward. “We have adapted and now every two weeks we have a brand new show that is debuting and that has given a much higher level of customers that we are acquiring, compared to two or three months ago.”
Asked about what types of shows they would look to buy and commission the pair said for the moment they were looking for two to three comedies or dramas a year that had to be TV style productions.
Forward ruled out making factual or children’s shows in the immediate future saying: “That’s not in the immediate future we are looking at but that it is somewhere we’d like to expand down the track.
“We are looking for six to ten episodes that seems to be the right amount… What we make will need to feel like television. It needs to feel big, it needs to feel premium not like web video.
“I don’t think it is any more complicated than if you get someone in to watch more than two episodes they will probably stick around to watch the rest. That’s good for a service like ours.”
Nic Christensen
If he is saying this – he has no idea about the digital streaming landscape locally or internationally….. How did he get the job?
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Poor bastard. Netflix is offering a fraction of its US inventory in Australia. At some point it will outbid the local carriers and it’s game over.
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How is this possible?
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I actually like the Stan product. More commissions like No Activity will definitely help it stand out as an Australian alternative.
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I have Stan and like it but this is a big admission of failure on his part…
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Stan is terrific. I reckon it has a high degree of happy customers across the board, just judging by the comments on its Facebook page. So much good content for only $10 per month. I don’t know how they can afford to commission local productions, but it’s great that they do.
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‘we underestimated the brand power of Netflix’
Really? I coulda told em that for nufin.
But I’m guessing they spent big on business analysis? Yes? or No? Surely it was a no-brainer Aussies were gagging for Netflix to get here – what with all the illegal downloads and all.
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Coming up with a stupid bogan name like Stan didn’t help
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I could have told them that in January when they launched. This just reflects how out of touch Aussie business ‘analysts’ and ‘experts’ are when it comes to ground reality.
Stan has better content than Netflix AU. The problem was it was not easily available and accessible until very recently. So whatever subscriber numbers they have managed without being accessible is pretty incredible. Now that it is available on smart tvs and game consoles, it should do even better.
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