Nine CEO Hugh Marks says streaming service Stan is a much bigger business than he anticipated and has high hopes for the platform after news of its "aggressive" new subscriber uptake.
Speaking to AdNews following the announcement of the company's results, in which Stan was earmarket to hit positive profit, Marks said the results were testament to CEO Mike Sneesby, as well as new content deals.
Over the course of 2018, the streaming video on demand (SVOD) service inked deals with MGM, Starz and Disney.
"A lot of other people in the market like to knock Stan say it will never make money and it will never do this or that, but the facts are it keeps overachieving on its targets and is doing brilliantly," Marks said.
"Stan is a bigger business than what we were planning for when we took over the remaining share of the business."
In yesterday's results, Stan revealed new active subscribers now reached close to 1.5 million active subscribers, with usage per subscriber continuing to increase and daily total hours streamed now exceeding one million.
Revenue growth of 50%, and a cost increase of 19%, also led Nine to announce that the streaming business is expected to exit FY19 with its first positive profit run-rate since launching.
Nine would not forecast an expected subscriber number for the end of year results, however, Marks said he didn't expect subscriber growth to continue at its current rate, adding it was more likely to stabilise over the second half of FY19.
As television ad revenue continues to decline in the free-to-air market, Marks said Nine was in a good position to utilise the mutlide of other assets in its portfolio to generate alternative means of ad revenue.
"We're getting audience share growth, which is focusing on premium opportunities for advertisers, delivering them greater value as part of the package that they receive and focusing on trying to ensure that we offer them a more informed and focused audience," Marks said.
"If you look at a show like Married at First Sight, we don't just think about it as a television show, it's a piece of content that has revenue streams across multiple platforms such as streaming, FTA and digital publishing."
Marks said it was now about ensuring Nine was built for the future of media, adding that those business who simply rely on one platform are going to have a "more challenged future".
"As we go to market as Nine it's important to remember that we are more than just one asset, and clients have already begun to recognise that, buying packages that include all platforms across out suite," Marks said.
Stan is not alone in the Australia market as other SVOD services such as Ten's recently launched platform, 10 All Access, which features programming from parent company CBS, bring further competition.
Questions linger about the future of Stan's current deals with Showtime, which is owned by CBS, as well as Disney, which is preparing to launch its own SVOD service.
Internationally, Disney has been pulling content from rival streaming service Netflix. Earlier this week Disney, which owns superhero franchise Marvel, cancelled the final two Netflix original series to feature Marvel characters Jessica Jones and The Punisher.
Despite the critical success of both shows, Disney has shown it is willing to pull all of its content to boost its own platform.
It remains unclear as to whether Disney and CBS will terminate its deals with Stan, however last year Sneesby told AdNews he had no concerns over the launch of 10 All Access or what it mean for current content deals.
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