In this week’s edition of Five on Friday, we share DigitalTV Research’s estimate for streaming revenue by 2025, Esquire launches a ‘Select’ membership program for its magazine, and Google plans to pay publishers for more than $1 billion over three years for news license fees. Also, Orbit Media Studios shares blogging statistics from 7th annual blogging survey, and LinkedIn shares top subscription jobs.
Streaming Video to Generate $100 Billion by 2025 While Pay TV Revenue Continues to Drop
According to an October 2020 report by Digital TV Research, streaming video on demand could become a $100 billion industry by 2025. This would be double the revenue generated in 2019. Here are other highlights from their report:
- Of the estimated $100 billion in revenue in 2025, the United States will comprise the largest portion at $42 billion, an $18 billion increase from 2019 revenue.
- China’s SVOD revenue will come in second at an estimated $9.1 billion in revenue in 2025.
- The total number of SVOD subscriptions will grow from 529 million in 2019 to 1.17 billion in 2025. Combined, China and the U.S. will account for 51% of total global subscribers.
- The three heaviest hitters will be the combination of Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video who will represent half of all SVOD subscriptions by 2025.
“We believe that Disney+ will have a huge impact. However, we have lowered our 2025 forecasts by 30 million since our May edition,” said Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research. “Analysis of Disney’s June results showed a rapid deceleration in subscription additions after an initial spike in its early launch countries. We expect this to be repeated elsewhere.”
In related news, Digital TV Research reports that global pay TV revenue peaked in 2016 at $202 billion. They anticipate it will drop to $152 billion by 2025. In 2019, the U.S. had the most pay TV revenue at $88.5 billion. That number is expected to drop to $56.0 billion by 2025. China will remain relatively flat. In 2019, it generated $9.5 billion in pay TV revenue, compared to an estimated $9.3 billion in 2025.
For more data and insights, visit DigitalTVResearch.com to see the full report.
Esquire Magazine Launches Metered Paywall and ‘Select’ Membership
Ninety-year-old Esquire magazine is shaking things up. They’ve put up a metered paywall, allowing readers to access four free articles per month. To read more than that, they’ll have to subscribe to the magazine’s new membership club, Esquire Select. The new membership program is tiered with three options, starting at $4 per month.
In addition to the options show above, readers can subscribe only to The Politics Blog with Charles P. Pierce for $25 a year or a print-only subscription for $15 a year. The print magazine, which includes exclusive celebrity profiles, style advice, men’s fashion insights and other articles, is published six times a year.
“Your membership will provide boundless access to what you already love about Esquire. But we’re also adding a few things we hope will up the ante. Esquire Select allows us to make Esquire better—and that’s what we promise to do. Because some things that haven’t changed in the last nine decades are our insatiable hunger for building a community around this beloved brand, our respect for the legacy that it was built on, and the voice, perspective, and attitude we’ve been delivering since 1933. We hope you can be a part of this new chapter in its story,” wrote Esquire editors in their announcement.
Google to Pay Publishers More Than $1B Over 3 Years in News License Fees
Google kicked off the month by announcing a $1 billion investment in news over the three years. As part of the Google News Initiative, the tech giant has created a new product called the Google News Showcase. This product will include curated content from top international news publishers, and it will pay a licensing fee to those news organizations. To date, Google has signed with about 200 publications in Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, the U.K. and Austria, and the company plans to add India, Belgium and the Netherlands to the list.
According to a blog post, the News Showcase consists of “story panels” that readers will initially find on Google News for Android and eventually for iOS, followed by Google Discover and Search. Publishers will have the ability to choose and package the stories within Google’s news products, giving them an opportunity to deepen their relationship with readers. Later, publishers will be able to add video, audio and daily briefings.
“This approach is distinct from our other news products because it leans on the editorial choices individual publishers make about which stories to show readers and how to present them. It will start rolling out today to readers in Brazil and Germany, and will expand to other countries in the coming months where local frameworks support these partnerships,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, in an October 1 blog post.
Pichai did not say whether or not U.S. publishers would be invited to participate in this program.
Orbit Media: 2020 Blogging Survey – What’s Working and What’s Not
In the company’s seventh annual blogging survey, Orbit Media asked more than 1,000 bloggers about blog content and their creation process to help individuals and companies who use blogging as a marketing tool better understand what’s working and what’s not. Here are a few fascinating highlights from that report.
- The average blog post takes 3 hours and 55 minutes to write, so bloggers are spending 63% more time writing posts than they did 6 years ago!
- Bloggers who spend more time writing posts report they get better results.
- The typical blog post is 1,269 words, a 57% increase since 2014. Longer content attracts readers.
- 54% of bloggers who write pieces that are 3,000 or more words report “strong results.”
- The best results come from consistent posting, but that means different things to different people. Daily bloggers are the most likely to report “strong results” from their efforts (57%), compared to weekly bloggers (28%) or monthly (18%).
- 90% of bloggers use images in their posts, 54% use statistics, 37% share contributor quotes, 25% include video and 6% include audio.
For more highlights, charts, insights and statistics, visit Orbit Media.
LinkedIn Top Subscription Jobs
Senior Director, Communications
CBS All Access/Paramount+
New York City, NY
Under direction of the Vice President, Communications, the Senior Communications Director will help to define and support the business initiatives of ViacomCBS’ streaming service, CBS All Access / Paramount+, as well as some of its other digital entertainment properties, like ET Live. This role will help define and execute the communications strategy supporting the business initiatives of the service, including product and partnership announcements and communications, executive relations and speaking engagements, and overall positioning of the service’s value proposition and success. The Sr. Communications Director will work closely with not only cross-functional internal teams like marketing, product, and business development, but also work with external device and platform partners in support of the service. Read more.
Director of Social Media
Fabletics
El Segundo, CA
As the Director of Social Media at Fabletics, you will be responsible for defining and executing an innovative social media strategy in addition to developing campaigns that deliver measurable business results. This position collaborates with key internal stakeholders across PR, Creative, Product, Marketing and Merchandising to create the social content strategy. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in strategic planning within the social and digital space and experience developing and implementing highly successful social media campaigns. Read more.
Director of People Operations
Scribd
San Francisco, CA
We are growing our People team and looking for a Director of People Operations to work closely with our HR, Talent and Office teams. This role will report to Scribd’s VP of People. You are the sort of personality who thrives in a fast-moving, quickly changing atmosphere. You understand, are excited by, and ideally have experienced the challenges of scaling a tech company, including the need to move quickly, compromise, and wear many hats when required. You’re a creative, out-of-the-box thinker, who is willing to take risks to help us build and scale. Read more.
Senior Customer Engagement Manager
Salesforce
Seattle, WA
The Senior Customer Engagement Manager is a critical role on our Customer Strategy and Programs team, and a significant contributor to drive overall customer engagement and lifecycle program strategy and end to end customer experience. This role will lead
program collaboration across all departments in Marketing, Customer Success and
Sales. The role includes setting goals, budget and the go-tomarket strategy for customer engagement programs; building and driving the program execution strategy and plan; working with cross-functional stakeholders and marketing operations… Read more.
Director, Subscription Services (Printing)
Brother
Bridgewater, NJ
The Director, Subscription Services, leads the Brother strategic direction and execution, encompassing the customer journey development, driving, and maximizing the revenue and profit of printing subscription services. This position establishes Subscription Services and leads a cross-company team towards go-to-market strategies, financial modeling, and customer journey. This role leads the development of subscription marketing plans and tactics to grow customer subscribers within the printing market. If you want to innovate, learn, and grow with a global leader that builds products, services, and a company people love, then we’ll be “at your side” every step of the way. Read more.
