Star is also the name of an Asian satellite TV service, which was founded in 1990 and bought by Disney in March 2019.
I knew it. I called it when certain movies and series weren’t put on Disney+. They are certainly going to conttol a major chunk of streaming.
Star sounds like a international version of Hulu
Yeah good call. I wonder if they’ll do a combine package of disney + and star together so you dont have to pay two sets of subscription sets. I’d pay for Star and Disney + in one combined amount as a yearly subscription.
ViacomCBS are announcing today that they are going to launch a “Premium SVOD Service for audiences of all ages”
- CBS All Access programming + Showtime exclusive premieres
- Content from Paramount Pictures (Movies), Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon & Paramount Network (TV)
- Q1 2021 launch - Australia (where it will rebrand 10 All Access), Latin America and Nordics are priority markets
- Rolled out in parallel with Pluto TV
Name will be announced closer to launch
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as it stands with subscription video on demand:
- 10 All Access (CBS and Showtime)
- Acorn TV
- Amazon Prime Video
- Apple TV
- Binge
- Britbox (BBC/ITV streaming service coming soon)
- Disney+
- Foxtel Go
- Foxtel Now
- Hayu
- Kayo
- Netflix (with Netflix originals and little else)
- Optus Sport
- Quibi
- Stan
- Star (with 20th Century Studios/FX/ABC America)
- YouTube Premium
future predictions:
- 7plus extra (possible paid version of 7plus with no ads and some exclusive content)
- MGM/United Artists
- Peacock (NBC Universal general entertainment and movies, separate to Hayu)
- Roadshow (with lots of Aussie content)
- Sony (maybe a reboot of their previous “Crackle” service)
Another TheHomeOfMusic prediction correct!
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Another streaming service has started in Australia.
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7 should really partner with NBC to deliver Peacock in Australia, either as a premium paid product or intergrated into the existing 7plus.
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It’s going to be difficult given NBCUniversal’s existing programming deal with Nine.
Adding documentary services and new ones just announced:
as it stands with subscription video on demand:
- 10 All Access (CBS and Showtime)
- Acorn TV
- Amazon Prime Video
- Apple TV
- Binge
- Britbox (BBC/ITV streaming service coming soon)
- Disney+
- DocPlay
- Foxtel Go
- Foxtel Now
- Hayu
- iWonder
- Kayo
- Netflix (with Netflix originals and little else)
- Optus Sport
- Quibi
- Shudder
- Stan
- Star (with 20th Century Studios/FX/ABC America)
- YouTube Premium
Subscription home entertainment soars in Australia
Subscriptions across video and games boom as people stay home during pandemic
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted home entertainment subscription services in Australia according to new research from emerging technology analyst firm Telsyte.
Australians added 5.6 million new subscriptions to the end of June 2020, an increase of 18 per cent from a year ago. This growth was across streaming video on demand (SVOD), streaming music and games related subscription services.
The total number of subscriptions reached almost 37 million and is forecast to grow to 58 million by 2024.
The Telsyte Australian Entertainment Subscriptions Study 2020 found SVOD and streaming music remained the top two largest categories with 16 million and 12 million subscriptions respectively.
Video entertainment more important than ever
COVID-19 sent the Australian SVOD services market to new heights as Australians spent more time at home, with over half (52%) of SVOD users believing their services have become “essential” since the pandemic.
The total number of subscriptions reached around 16.3 million at the end of June 2020, a year-on-year increase of 32 per cent from 12.3 million in June 2019.
Telsyte research shows Netflix (5.4 million) and Stan (2.1 million) remained the top two SVOD service providers at the end of June 2020. Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ (launched in Nov 2019) both emerged strongly with 1.7 and 1.1 million subscriptions, respectively.
Use of “Amazon Prime Video” benefited from the strong uptake of “Amazon Prime” subscriptions (Telsyte measures a subset of Prime users based on those that use the Video option), as demand for online shopping and delivery has also soared.
Pent-up demand for sports content
With Australians unable to attend their favourite sporting matches, the pandemic has only made Australians’ appetite for sports content even stronger, with a surge in adoption towards the end of June 2020 when many sporting codes resumed.
“Despite a hiccup during the shutdown period, sports video subscriptions are set to continue to grow strongly as fans turn to apps instead attending stadiums,” Telsyte Managing Director, Foad Fadaghi says.
Telsyte estimates the total sports SVOD category grew by 11 per cent year on year to 4.9 million subscriptions at the end of June 2020. Telstra Sports Live Passes, Optus Sport and Kayo Sports made up around 95 per cent of total sports SVOD subscriptions.
Slowing content production boosting rivals
Disruptions to content production during the pandemic will likely present an issue for services going into the second half of 2020, with research showing consumers are recognising new program additions are in decline. More than 1-in-3 SVOD users feel there is less new content being added to their services since the pandemic.
However, rather than impacting negatively on the market, in the short term Telsyte believes this has driven consumers to consider subscribing to multiple services to address content shortfalls, rather than turning off services.
“Australians continue to show a strong willingness to subscribe to multiple services,” Fadaghi says.
Telsyte research shows that nearly half (47%) of households that subscribe to SVOD services have more than one service, an increase from 41 per cent in June 2019.
The market is well positioned to accommodate multiple providers, as more platforms such as Fetch TV, Apple TV and Foxtel are shaping to be more inclusive, allowing easy subscriptions to multiple services and single billing through the one platform. The study found 36 per cent of Australians are interested in using simplified, one-stop access to multiple services.
Free video demand solid as Pay TV subsides
SVOD services have not been the only winners during the past 12 months with free to air TV apps also growing viewership.
Broadcasting Video on Demand services (BVOD), including 9Now, ABC iView, etc have benefited as Australians searched for more content during the lockdown, especially as a trusted news sources for information about the current health crisis.
The main BVOD platforms had upwards of 10 million Australians using their service during FY2020 and almost half of survey respondents claimed they are spending more time on BVOD due to COVID-19.
In contrast, the total Pay TV market (which includes residential cable, satellite and IPTV) was down 6 per cent year on year to 2.6 million subscriptions at the end of June 2020.
Foxtel’s Pay TV was the main source of the market decline due to increasing adoption of SVOD, which itself is now pivoting strongly towards with Foxtel Now, Kayo Sport and Binge.
Fetch TV with its mixed business model as both a set top box platform and a IPTV subscription service remained the growth engine for the Pay TV market alongside the uptake of nbn broadband bundles.
Maturing streaming music market sees more starting to pay
The total number of streaming music subscriptions only increased 2 per cent year on year to 12.2 million at the end of June 2020; however, over half are now paid subscriptions, compared to 42 per cent at the end of June 2019.
The top three streaming music service providers in Australia remained Spotify, Google (including YouTube Music, YouTube Premium and Google Play Music) and Apple.
Streaming music providers are increasingly focused on the podcast segment as growth has slowed.
According to Telsyte’s research, more than 1-in-4 Australians aged 16 and over listened to podcasts between January and June 2020, with comedy, health and news and politics related podcasts most popular.
Game on! Game subscriptions starting to explode
Video games have been booming in popularity following the lockdown. About half of Australian households have a gaming console and 5 million people regularly purchase games (downloads and physical) making it a vibrant part of the entertainment market.
As well as dedicated consoles, Telsyte research shows that gamers overall were spending between 25 and 35 per cent more time on games during the pandemic ranging on devices such as smartphones, tablets, computers, and gaming consoles.
Australians had 5.8 million games related subscriptions at the end of June 2020, consisting of console subscriptions (e.g. PlayStation Plus, Xbox Live Gold), video game service subscriptions (e.g. EA Access, Xbox Game Pass and Apple Arcade), and Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) subscriptions (e.g. World of Warcraft).
The biggest growth was in video game service subscriptions which more than doubled to 2 million at the end of June 2020 (up from 0.9 million in June 2019). Telsyte forecasts this market is set to explode as several companies vie to be the ‘Netflix’ of games.
The study found a third of gamers are already aware of cloud gaming, where games are streamed from a remote server rather than stored locally on the users’ devices. This allows games to be played on devices with less computing power and the games also do not need to be downloaded and stored on the local device.
“Streaming gaming could be a game changer for the industry as it opens high end gaming to almost any device,” Fadaghi says.
Telsyte also found a growing interest in next-generation PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles as release dates get closer. Both will likely to help boost the games subscription market.
Telsyte estimates the total number of games related subscriptions could reach more than 17 million by June 2024, enabled by fast nbn and 5G Internet connectivity, next generation game consoles and services that will appeal to casual players on smartphones and tablets.
https://www.c21media.net/itv-to-invest-12-6m-in-britbox-oz/
ITV’s announcement to the London Stock Exchange yesterday (August 20):
On 19 August 2020 ITV SVOD Australia Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of ITV plc, agreed to invest AUD 17.7 million in The BritBox Australia Partnership (“BritBox Australia”) over a period of three years. Consistent with ITV’s plans for expansion, BritBox Australia is on track to launch in the Autumn. BritBox Australia is a 50:50 joint venture partnership established in Australia with BBC Studios to launch and operate a subscription video-on-demand service branded “BritBox” in Australia, which will deliver primarily British content. BBC Studios will be providing equal funding. ITV’s share of total joint venture losses/profits will be recognised within results from JVs and Associates.
I’m eventually gonna give up a few of my subscriptions. It’s just unsustainable to keep the ones that have locally and internationally. So many , but need to decide which one I access more.
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we had all of Netflix, Stan and Disney+ at one stage but we do cancel and re-join from time to time. At the moment we’ve just let them all lapse but will sign up again should there be anything we particularly want to see. It’s just not sustainable to keep them going indefinitely
Britbox could be interesting but it would depend what sort of back catalogue it has, if any.
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Well i have used both the uk and us version of BritBox the catalogue isn’t much different to each other lots of classic comedy, current comedy, drama and game shows
So far I have
Net Flix
Now TV (UK Subcription)
Youtube TV (Will be paused from 28th of August)
Sling (appears to be the cheapest, without the local networks, and has MLB Network)
Disney +
Cross Flix (Christian Streaming service) - One I must keep.
The others I guess i have to do pro and con list.
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A new French-language streaming platform was launched on Wednesday this week. TV5MondePlus was conceived by French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. More than 3,000 hours of programs and movies are available for free, with subtitles in five languages (French, English, German, Spanish and Arabic).
Promo:
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