How Streaming Platforms Can Balance Subscription And Ad Revenue
Mike Napodano: Streamers small and large alike can compete only with a data and technology foundation that can deliver value to both advertisers and audiences.
Creating a profitable streaming business is difficult even for the largest and most well-funded media companies. One of the issues is balancing revenue from both advertising and subscription customers, as evidenced by the recent addition of ad-supported content on Netflix and Amazon.
Finding the right cost to entice and keep subscribers is also hard when so many free ad-supported options are available. In the U.S., Disney+ was launched in November 2019, less than five years ago. And after a subscription price hike, the platform is struggling to keep subscribers. The behemoth recently fell below 150 million subscribers and continues to rack up losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In the U.K., Kantar noted that the number of people with streaming subscriptions actually fell in 2022 from 30.5 million to 28.5 million.
Creating A Data And Technology Foundation
As the behemoth streamers make headlines, there are hundreds of streaming platforms worldwide grappling with the same issues. How to reach profitability with a combination of subscription and ad-supported revenue on streaming channels?
When it comes to data and technology fundamentals, many media companies are dealing with a tangled web of legacy solutions that can be cumbersome to tie together. Media companies with broadcast or even digital businesses have tech stacks that may not be compatible with their CTV technology, which means that many daily processes involve intense amounts of manual labor. From putting advertising proposals together to analyzing audience behavior across channels, many companies are seriously handicapped by their data and technology.