This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Digital Media Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.
21st Century Fox has announced it led an $8 million funding round for theSkimm, a multi-platform company that publishes news aimed at millennials.
theSkimm launched in 2012 to deliver news toward young female professionals in a simple and clean format. In April of this year, the company launched Skimm Ahead, an iOS app priced at $2.99 per month that integrates right into the reader's iPhone calendar and provides relevant information about future events such as concert ticket releases, Netflix premiere dates, and presidential debates.
The company plans to use the funds for original video content, which would be distributed and produced under Skimm Studios.
21st Century Fox. which owns several cable networks such as FX and Fox News, wants to capitalize on theSkimm's global audience of 3.5 million readers at a time when many millennials are cutting the cord and abandoning traditional pay-TV.
The median age of Fox News viewers, for example, is 67, so a partnership with theSkimm would let 21st Century Fox use its power to build brands and engage audiences to create content for a much younger demographic.
Fox has made several investments in digital media recently. In March, the company poured $6 million in FuboTV, a startup that streams soccer games and focuses on millennial males who are not traditional pay-TV customers. The company has more than 40,000 U.S. subscribers since it debuted in January 2015 and is available on connected devices such as Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.
And last summer, Fox Sports invested approximately $150 million for an 11% stake in fantasy sports company DraftKings. The company made the deal in order to develop content with DraftKings across several platforms in an effort to reach those who do not subscribe to traditional pay-TV.
Margaret Boland, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on subscription video on-demand services that examines how the growth of SVOD is coming at the expense of the pay-TV industry. The report analyzes the state of the pay-TV industry and maps out which demographics are more likely to stop buying traditional TV packages.
The report also discusses the user base, original content offerings, and subscription models of the major subscription streaming services available today, including Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video. Finally, it looks at how traditional pay-TV companies and premium channels like HBO and Showtime are addressing the shift to digital viewing, as well as the implications of their response for advertisers.
Those abandoning pay-TV packages fall into three main groups: cord-nevers, cord-cutters, and cord-shavers. Whereas video streaming services have found favor with younger viewers in particular, an increasing portion of older subscribers also are leaving behind their pay-TV packages. Still, younger viewers watch four times as much video content online than older viewers.
Netflix is the largest SVOD service and will continue to dominate the industry with an impressive original content lineup and aggressive expansion plans.
Amazon is trying to compete with Netflix by investing significant resources in original content.
Hulu is the third-largest SVOD service, but the only one to offer ad-supported membership tiers. Hulu has been the slowest to roll out original and exclusive content, but it has inked numerous deals in the past year to boost its content library.
Pay-TV companies are responding to the rise of SVOD services by offering subscribers "skinny bundles" and their own streaming services.
In full, the report:
Illustrates the fall of the traditional TV package and the rise of broadband only cable subscriptions.
Lays out the different types of viewers that are leaving behind pay-TV: cord-cutters, cord-shavers, and cord-nevers.
Examines the leading SVOD services including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and premium channel offerings from HBO and Showtime.
Explains the various ways that pay-TV companies are responding to the rise of SVOD services, notably skinny bundles and standalone streaming services.
Considers what the migration to SVOD services means to marketers.
To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:
Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT
The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of subscription video on-demand services.
Join the conversation about this story »