The Streaming Wars--Part V

Special Situations

If you take a look at the whole cavalry charge of players that is unfolding in streaming it is clear that several large players have the best chance of surviving and ultimately winning. Yet, there are a host of other players out there who are worth a look or may go the distance when consolidation occurs in the space in a few years. Today, we talk about a few of these players:

Roku

This is a both a hardware company and content platform. They provide some free content from the internet and also take some advertising and have subscriptions. They serve the majors such as Netflix and Amazon Prime plus have a modest service called Roku TV and well as sell actual TV boxes. The service could thrive if they can maintain relationships with the major providers—their low cost may have appeal to the likely wave of cable“cord-cutters” to come.

Quibi TV—this was profiled quite a while back in MR (see update on Quibi TV--MR, 5/30/19). Available only on mobile phones this spring, they will provide some original video content in “bite size” offerings of 12 minutes or less. The assumption is that it will be a go-to place for millennials and those on the move in the course of a day. Have strong management team led by Meg Whitman and Jeff Katzenberg. Here is the link to a 1/8/20 interview on Bloomberg TV—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B0Of5XV7no

My bet is that Apple TV Plus, Disney, or Amazon Prime will gobble this service up if it clicks.

IMDB TV—somewhat quietly owned by Amazon, this contains some original programming and it’s FREE!

You Tube TV—You can view live TV here and over 70 channels from parent Google. This is not cheap—$49.99 per month at present

Acorn TV—a personal favorite with a nice mix of British and international shows, some of very old vintage. Has narrow appeal but only $5.99 per month.

There are dozens of others that are free, sports oriented, or with very narrow breadth of content. Candidly, the average consumer will have a hard time sorting them all out which may help a non-controversial carrier such as Roku that can offer several for one stop shopping.

Next up—Conclusions

If you would like to contact Don Cole directly, you may reach him at doncolemedia@gmail.com