How Streaming Is Navigating Its Mature Era

Streaming has entered its mature era, according to industry experts.

During ADWEEK’s Mediaweek conference on Wednesday, executives from Paramount Streaming, BritBox, and TelevisaUnivision agreed that streaming had reached its age of maturity, where the initial burst of growth is over, and now streamers are looking to monetize.

Diana Pessin, chief marketing officer at Britbox International, said specialty streaming services like Britbox are uniquely set up to succeed in this new era with strong fandom and word of mouth.

“You have to be in that mindset of profitable growth from the onset,” Pessin said. “Luckily, [BritBox] is really well-positioned in that perspective.”

Meanwhile, Rafael Urbina, chief operating officer of ViX, TelevisaUnivision’s global Spanish-language streaming service, noted that cost-conscious consumers are engaging with TV and long-form content in new ways, especially with the rise of sports streaming and live events and news. 

“We are also big believers in having a free consumer passport component towards trading service for anything that’s very important for our audience and how we can continue to deliver quality, entertaining tools free of charge,” Urbina said. “Then, obviously, premium series are super critical to growth and profitability.”

For Urbina, ViX’s multi-pronged approach of having a free, ad-supported tier and more premium tiers has led to reaching more consumers and achieving profitability—something many streamers are still searching for.

“The combination of having a strong and supportive business with a subscription business has allowed us to grow fast enough to achieve that profitability,” he added. “That’s probably the number one concern for the ongoing exchanges.”

And in the quest for profits, different metrics have taken center stage.

“You can start to see the change in what people are even talking about in terms of metrics,” Michelle Garcia, senior vice president, marketing at Paramount Streaming, said. “It was acquisition, then it was net ads. Now it’s … leadership, engagement.”

But Garcia said things are shifting, and more streamers are focused on the value of any given subscriber.

“How valuable are they to the service? And how do you monetize them in a way across ad-supported platforms, plans, and whatnot?” Garcia said. “That has been the big change.”