In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, audiences demand more than just content. They seek personalized experiences, seamless navigation, and control over their viewing journey and personal data. Imagine a streaming platform and app that truly understands your preferences, recommends content that resonates, and adapts to your viewing habits. That’s the power of viewer-centric streaming. By prioritizing the viewer’s experience, platforms are delivering personalized recommendations, a user-friendly interface, interactive features, and much more. How can a streaming product according to this look like?
Our #MTHCON24 session “Fulfilling Audience Needs: Viewer-centered Streaming Products” on September 26 at 2 PM at our Expert Stage will explore experiences from the UK, examine a leading German streaming aggregator, and feature perspectives from a new VOD service for libraries in the USA.
A great viewing experience starts not when the film begins but from the moment a user interacts with the platform. This includes everything from a visually appealing and seamless interface to responsive features that cater to a user’s preferences and behaviors. Despite the technological advances, many providers have yet to excel in this area, and there is a significant opportunity to improve.
With that in mind, let’s focus on a German platform that is bucking the market trend and attracting an impressive number of new subscribers: Joyn, Germany’s only free “super streamer” with an impressive range of premium content. They offer a huge range of sports programmes, 70 Live TV channels, 20 Fast- and On-Demand channels and varied premium content. Rather than focusing on subscription models, its business model is centered around advertising video on demand. An attractive environment for advertising customers that have more opportunities to place their campaigns than any other provider. But: balancing advertising and user needs is the key to success.
In our #MTHCON session, Hannah Reuter, Head of Growth & Monetization at Seven.One Entertainment Group, will provide an in-depth look at Joyn’s strategy. As she oversees the revenue-related product and engineering teams for Seven.One’s entire digital product portfolio, Hannah plays a key role in aligning user needs with advertiser goals, driving the platform’s successful growth. She will walk us through the challenges of managing a vast content library while meeting audience expectations.
Sharing the stage with her is Paul Kane, Director of Technology, Partnerships & Distribution at ITV, who has spent the last 25 years delivering television and mobile products, including senior technical roles at Sky, where he led research into UHD and voice recognition. He leads a strategic program at ITV to transform traditional linear TV into IP-driven platforms and oversees the integration and delivery of ITVX and ITV’s content across the UK’s TV distribution ecosystem.
Paul will showcase the streaming platform Freely. The special thing about it: For the first time, four major broadcasters, namely BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, have joined forces to take place on a common platform. This new platform was launched in May 2024 and includes all linear programming from the above channels as well as all on-demand content. As it was announced at the launch by ITV: „Freely will make the best of the UK’s world-leading public service content seamlessly available for free. It supports Channel 4’s Fast Forward strategy as we accelerate our transformation into the streaming age.” Freely’s user interface introduces new features that modernize the free TV experience for the streaming era. For the first time at no cost, viewers can effortlessly switch between live and on-demand TV from major UK broadcasters, enjoying benefits like pausing, restarting, and accessing more episodes — all without any subscription fees. A future-proof free TV for the streaming age? Let’s hear the inside view.
As CEO of myfilmfriend, Benoît Calvez brings a different approach to the stage and completes the session trio. myfilmfriend is an innovative video-on-demand (VOD) service that partners with public libraries to offer their members access to a curated collection of European and world cinema, including daily recommendations to enhance the viewing experience. Originating in Europe, it was launched in Germany in 2017 and has now expanded to serve over 700 libraries of cities and towns as well as universities, film centers or art galleries. They offer a flexible pricing plan which works for libraries of all budgets and sizes.
As an influential figure in the European and international film industry, with a career focused on enhancing access to cultural and entertaining content through innovative streaming platforms, Benoît has driven the platform’s growth. He will take us on the journey of myfilmfriend and its successful expansion into new markets, particularly in North America.
Don’t miss this opportunity to gain insights into the future of streaming, how to implement a holistic viewer-centric approach, and how to deliver a seamless and engaging experience from start to finish!
