The race is on to launch niche Internet TV services on the Web. This week we counted five new OTT services, each with a particular targeted audience in mind, planning to launch in the first months of 2015.
The content owners behind these services all see the same future for their respective content: online delivery. Internet-delivered TV is becoming more and more an assured future, rather than a foggy prediction, for the future of home entertainment services.
Cinedigm and TV4 Entertainment are joining together to launch a series of Internet TV channels. The first will be geared towards pre-schoolers and scholars, and the two companies plan to evaluate “other targeted channels that can be quickly launched to serve avid niche audiences.”
Cinedigm has three other niche Internet TV channels in the works: Docurama, dedicated to documentaries; CONtv, a Comic Con-themed channel slated to launch in March 2015, in partnership with Wizard World, and a Dove Foundation “faith and family channel” that will launch in mid-2015.
“Our plan is to create a diversified portfolio of digital networks, launching several narrowcast channels each with a customized business model that maximizes the potential for success,” said Cinedigm’s chairman and CEO Chris McGurk. He said the partnership with TV4 Entertainment will help the company “leverage key content pods in our library by launching highly-curated digital channels on an already existing OTT footprint.”
The Cinedigm and TV4 Entertainment announcement comes just a few days after Viacom announced its own cartoon pay TV network Nickelodeon will launch a standalone OTT service sometime this year. Nickelodeon follows Sesame Workshop, which owns the long-standing children’s series “Sesame Street,” which announced its own subscription streaming video service back in 2014.
In case there is any confusion as to why these networks are focused on children’s content, VideoNuze’s Will Richmond summed it up nicely this week: “There’s no better illustration of the massive disruptive impact of OTT options like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime than the decimation of kids-oriented cable TV networks currently playing out.”
Incidentally, those networks are about to get another beating from online video king YouTube. Google is in the midst of creating a kid-friendly version of YouTube – much as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime have done with their respective Internet TV services. Earlier this month, Google acquired Launchpad Toys, which ran on online video network called ToonTube.
Internet delivery has the advantage of putting older, library content in front of audiences that traditional linear TV just can’t find, which gives content owners the ability to develop new revenue streams for old video that is collecting dust.
That’s exactly what Shout Factory has done. Shout Factory is a home video company looking for new ways to monetize old content. It has just launched an ad-supported streaming video service, called Shout Factory TV, that’s available via browsers, tablets, smartphones and on Roku net tops. The service will “present an exciting entertainment alternative to major streaming services,” by bringing “timeless and contemporary cult favorites to pop culture fans.”
It offers 2,500 hours of cult hits, including “Father Knows Best,” “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis,” “Dennis the Menace,” “The Weird Al Show” and “Mystery Science 3000.” New titles will be added to the service regularly.
Meanwhile, Screen Media Venture’s ad-supported streaming movie service Popcornflix has hit the 10 million download mark this week. Popcornflix is known for its eccentric and often unknown titles, which tend to have big name stars.
Hispanic and Latino viewers, particularly in the US, are some of the most tech-savvy audiences around, and are particularly good targets for an Internet TV service because they are so woefully underserved in the traditional pay TV ecosystem.
That’s why Hulu has paid special attention to acquire Spanish-language content for its subscription streaming service; and why DirecTV late last year launched Yaveo, a skinny pay OTT bundle that offers sports coverage and both Spanish and English-language content.
Here’s another contender for the Latino dollar: Pongalo, a multi-channel network on YouTube, is now an Internet TV service that targets Spanish-speaking viewers around the world. The service, which is owned by Latin Everywhere, is currently in beta testing and plans to offer an ad-supported tier and subscription tier. It will offer 50,000 hours of Spanish-language content spanning Telenovelas, films, and children’s content, from Venezuela-based RCTV.
SomosTV, which owns 400 hours of Spanish-language films, also launched a streaming video service this week. FlixLatino offers action, romance, drama, comedy, mystery, horror and suspense titles in Spanish, from Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Spain, Chile and Venezuela. The service is available across tablets, smartphones and PCs, and will also be available on DirecTV’s Yaveo platform.
Factual programming, a popular programming niche that includes documentaries, nature programs and educational programs, has a bright future online, where it is able to reach its audiences who may be more tech savvy to begin with.
Earlier this year, Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks announced CuriosityStream, a subscription-based factual Internet TV network. This week, Alliant Content announced its own factual OTT service, Xive TV. Xive TV calls itself the “first Internet-based documentary network,” as it is launching a few months before CuriosityStream will debut.
Xive TV offers over 2,000 hours of factual TV for streaming to tablets, PCs, smartphones and smart TVs. The network offers an ad-supported tier and a subscription tier. The content is also available on Hulu and YouTube. The service targets “passionate and curious” viewers aged 25-35. “Technology empowers the viewer,” said XiveTV co-founder Thomas Lucas. “People now expect immediate access to programs that match their passions and curiosity. That’s what XiveTV is all about.”
The service offers originally produced factual content alongside programming from content partners such as ITV, Sky Vision, Digital Rights Group, Cineflix and others. Shows include “Cosmic Journeys,” “Tornado Chasers,” “Psychic Investigator” and “Austin Stevens Adventures,” with new programs being released each week.
“XiveTV is part of the growing ‘new media; revolution, as viewers migrate from traditional television to over-the-top services, including mobile, searchable platforms that can better cater to their individual interests and their desire for TV anytime, anywhere,” the company said.
Niche by niche, Internet TV is dealing a thousand cuts to traditional linear TV.