by

Alternatives to ‘Spotify for x’ subscription models

While the subscription model rules the culture-tech world right now, companies like Plex, Tubi and Kinzen are showing there are alternatives. Read on for my takes…

What You Need To Know 👀

  1. The rise of ad-supported video streaming services 🎥

I noticed three different news stories today about ad-supported video streaming, an alternative to the subscription model pioneered by Netflix and carried on by other big players like Amazon and Disney”

My take: The story that stood out for me was about Plex, which is actually a “media center” app first and foremost. It intends to launch ad-supported video streaming later this year, and has just made a content deal with Warner Brothers. But as Variety noted, “Plex isn’t just looking to compete with ad-supported video services like Tubi and Pluto.” Instead it wants to use its media center app as a one-stop shop for all kinds of video content; including “the ability to record over-the-air television, download media to mobile devices for offline viewing and more.” It offers premium features for US$4.99 per month, but the core software is free. An intriguing software company in the culture-tech universe that isn’t just reliant on content deals.

  1. Kinzen has moved on from “Spotify for news” model 🗞️

Ireland-based Kinzen started out trying to provide a news aggregation app, along the lines of what Spotify does for music. But it has since switched tack, according to Nieman Lab:

“Kinzen’s first product is personalized newsletter technology for publishers. Readers can customize the newsletters based not just on topics but on the amount of time they have to read and when they’ll be reading (on their commute, at lunch, in the evening when they get home from work).”

My take: News is fundamentally different from music, partly because consumers have much more limited time to read news every day than listen to music (since music can be played in the background to other activities). But also large media companies like The New York Times and The Guardian are already essentially aggregators of different news topics; although of course sprinkled with their own political flavour. So I like Kinzen’s plan to be a platform for publishers, rather than try and be a consumer platform above powerful players like the NYT and Guardian.

  1. Audible Will Exclude Publishers’ Works from Captions Program—For Now 📚

As discussed in Monday’s newsletter, top U.S. publishers sued Amazon’s Audible for copyright infringement. The lawsuit was to stop a new, controversial speech-to-text feature in Audible that the book industry claims is a violation of copyright law. PublishersWeekly reports today that Audible has since backed down:

“In a stipulation filed in federal court on August 28, Audible has agreed to exclude works from a group of major publishers from its Captions program until permission and licensing issues raised in a recent lawsuit are resolved.”

My take: Good! Although Audible hasn’t exactly admitted it will purchase the licenses required, just that it seeks to “resolve” the matter in court.

  1. Net loss of seven UK print magazine titles over last five years 📉

Press Gazette reports there have been more closures than launches for print magazines in recent years:

My take: Not surprising, although as noted in previous editions of this newsletter, some magazines are enjoying solid online growth now. The key is to find the right digital strategy, as Glamour and Seventeen have found. Those magazines are thriving online thanks to tapping into their target audiences on social platforms like Instagram and YouTube, plus effective use of affiliate links and branded content.

Data Points 📊

  • Publishing Perspectives: Combining ebooks and downloaded audio, digital formats comprised 22.3% of reported US trade publishing revenue, in the first six months of this year, according to the AAP’s StatShot data. 📚

  • GamesIndustry.biz: The mobile esports industry generated $15.3 billion revenue last year, according to a report from Niko Partners. 🎮

  • Manatt-Vorhaus via Marketing Charts: The TV is Far From Being Youths’ Primary Medium for Entertainment; 29% of younger adults say smartphones are the principal device they use when seeking entertainment (tv = 19%). 📺

  • Arts Professional via ArtsJournal: 41% of visual arts audiences in England are aged between 16 and 34. In contrast, 41% of museum audiences are over 65. 🎨

  • Conviva via Marketing Charts: quality and reliability of online video services are improving; video buffering was cut by about two-fifths between Q2 2018 to Q2 2019, with the average rebuffering ratio dropping to 0.46%. 📹

Tweet of the day 🐦

Literary agent Kate McKean on the Audible lawsuit:

That’s the Friday update, hope you found it useful. See you next week! Your early support of Cybercultural is much appreciated. 🙏