In this episode of Inside Content, I sat down with Carlyn Staudt, President of Global Channels and Streaming at Blue Ant Media, to unpack what it really means to run “channels and streaming” in 2026 - and why she doesn’t treat them as separate worlds.
Carlyn described Blue Ant as a truly global media company (HQ’d in Toronto, with teams across North America, Europe, and APAC) that spans production, rights distribution, and owned-and-operated channels. She oversees the full portfolio under two flagship brands: Love Nature (natural history & wildlife) and Magellan TV (premium documentaries across science, history, true crime, and nature), plus traditional Pay TV, 14 FAST channels, YouTube, and SVOD.
A big theme was how Blue Ant defines success: owning IP and being able to “window” it creatively across platforms and territories. For Carlyn, the goal is straightforward: “reaching audiences with great content,” wherever they are. She emphasised the power of strong platform partnerships too - when distributors actively promote and prioritise your content, it’s a meaningful multiplier.
We also dug into the role of Pay TV today. Carlyn was clear it still matters - not just as revenue, but as a stable subscription “run rate” and even as a lever for Canadian financing (“soft money” from government grants), helping fund commissions and localisation.
On the streaming side, Blue Ant’s early FAST move in the US positioned them ahead of legacy players hesitant to loosen paywalls. Carlyn sees FAST evolving into a lasting revenue pillar - especially as time spent across their portfolio has grown by 32%, and she expects advertisers to follow the audience (but not on programmatic alone).
Finally, YouTube came through as both a monetisation window and a community engine - real-time fandom insights that can feed marketing, SVOD performance, and even future development decisions.
Key topics:
● Owning IP and global windowing strategies
● Pay TV’s ongoing value (run rate revenue + Canadian financing)
● FAST growth and the shift toward direct ad sales
● YouTube as monetisation + first-party audience insight
● Third-party platforms (e.g., Amazon Channels) as scaled marketing engines
● M&A strategy: scaling channels/streaming and strengthening studio capacity
● What’s next: new genres + international expansion for Magellan TV
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