In today's rapidly evolving TV and streaming landscape, navigating content distribution requires a nuanced understanding of global markets, audiences and how to strategically leverage platforms with your content.
On this episode of Inside Content, I was joined by Marc Rashba, Executive Vice President of Global Partnerships at Cineverse to take a deep-dive into cross-platform distribution to FAST, AVOD, Pay TV and YouTube and what content owners need to consider in their strategy.
The Evolving Landscape of FAST
We begin by addressing the significant shifts with FAST in the US.As the market reaches a saturation point and experiences a slowing of growth, platforms have become more stringent about channel performance and making room for new players with compelling content. Consequently, the US market is increasingly competitive, presenting challenges but also ongoing opportunities for innovative content owners and distributors.
“The lower performers that aren't bringing in an audience or doing their part of the heavy lifting will ultimately be discontinued, or as we call it in the industry, sunset, and likely never to come back. But while it's saturated, it doesn't mean there’s no opportunities. Others come in all the time. There's new audiences always being discovered with great channels and great programming” Marc Rashba
Beyond the US, we highlight the promising growth in international markets like Canada, Australia, and the UK, exploring how Cineverse has strategically entered these spaces by leveraging existing content libraries optimised for English-speaking audiences.
Distributing to AVOD and FAST
Cineverse’s approach to content distribution underscores the importance of tailoring content to diverse global audiences.
We discuss how audience behaviour varies across AVOD and FAST platforms, with Marc explaining that Cineverse’s channel ‘Asian Crush’ resonates more with females when distributed on FAST and more with males when distributed on AVOD, highlighting the necessity of tailoring programming strategies to suit distinct consumption patterns.
“It's really unique to see that you do get subset audiences that consume your own content on the same channel very differently by each of these different formats. And that's something that we have to think about when we're, you know, looking at the programming strategy for each of those brands across the board” Marc Rashba
When it comes to weighing up whether to distribute on AVOD and FAST, we discuss the importance of content library size. For studios and major networks, FAST has recently proved to be a major success, but for smaller content companies, AVOD can often be the better investment due to the choice factor of a VOD platform.
Beyond FAST: VOD and YouTube
As markets develop, it’s becoming increasingly more complex to launch a FAST channel. To tackle this, Cineverse’s content and distribution strategy involves utilising different platforms to validate content viability before committing to larger-scale FAST channel investments.
“We are continuing our strategy to not only be focused on FAST, but to make sure we're matching the content to the right potential audience and that would be potentially going after a VOD, YouTube and other places to really prove there's an audience to prove the channel has merit and is viable” Marc Rashba
A pivotal platform in this ecosystem is YouTube, which Marc describes as a powerful avenue for content distribution, particularly with the surge in long-form content consumption. YouTube's broad reach and ad-supported model can significantly expand content visibility, providing a gateway for content owners to gauge audience interest before venturing into more specialised spaces like FAST. We take a deep-dive into YouTube’s power and how Cineverse are utilising the platform as a distribution outlet to grow its content reach with over 15 of its channels.
We also touch on revenue models, drawing comparisons between YouTube and FAST platforms, including the differences in CPMs and fill rates, underscoring how each platform caters to unique advertising models.
Balancing content licensing strategy
A critical aspect of content distribution discussed is licensing strategy. Marc outlines the delicate balance between keeping content for O&O platforms versus licensing to third parties. This decision-making process revolves around maximising audience reach and revenue potential for each title, often leveraging recognisable brands and IPs to enhance content strategy.
Topics discussed
- The development of FAST across global markets, specifically looking at the US, Canada, the UK and Australia
- An outline of Cineverse's FAST channel portfolio distributed globally
- Technology developments in content discoverability for FAST
- Maintaining audiences on Pay TV, FAST and AVOD
- Harnessing YouTube as a platform before FAST, including the key differences in revenue models
- Distributing to AVOD vs. FAST
- Licensing content to third parties vs keeping it for O&O channels
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