Rivals in the stream, Binge is what you want
It’s one of the most competitive marketplaces in the world, but the latest entrant comes armed with ‘six of the 10 greatest shows of all time’.
Binge enters the entertainment streaming wars on Monday in one of the most competitive marketplaces in the world, but CEO Julian Ogrin is confident the Foxtel-owned streamer can take on local and international rivals such as Stan and Netflix.
Binge represents a major opportunity but also a challenge to its owner, Foxtel, which has to hope its entertainment streamer doesn’t come at the expense of its own subscription television service with more than 5 million paid subscribers.
Ogrin, who is also CEO of Foxtel sport’s streamer, Kayo, said Binge would pursue the three-quarters of Australian households that do not already subscribe to Foxtel (majority-owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian).
“What we’re going for is that growth in the streaming market. Now we’ve launched Kayo to actually start that process and that was with over 50 sports in one place. We called it the Netflix of sport and that provides the experience the younger generation of sports fans are looking for in a streaming service.
“What Binge does is … take that exact model and the experiences that the same segment is looking for in streaming. It’s about being in control and watching that specific show you want, whether it’s in drama, comedy, entertainment, etc.”
From Monday viewers can get a free two-week trial at Binge.com.au.
Foxtel’s recent signing of the WarnerMedia deal provides a strong base to launch Binge, with Ogrin arguing it provides the best, most sought-after subscription TV content in the world.
“The Warner Media Library is enormous. And obviously that gets us access to that HBO content. HBO is renowned for that premium drama and that comedy drama that they can deliver year in, year out,” he said.
Ogrin brags that Binge now has “six of the 10 greatest IMDb shows of all time” including Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, The Wire and Chernobyl.
The WarnerMedia deal was also a much-needed win for Foxtel, which has been struggling to adapt from a pay-TV model to a streamer, with News Corp recently making a $1bn writedown on its Foxtel assets.
The deal also took away the HBO content from streamer rival Stan — owned by Nine Entertainment — and meant HBO would not be setting up its own rival streamer, HBO Max, as it is known in the US. It will also take away the world’s most popular sitcom, Friends, from Stan.
Ogrin maintains Foxtel is committed to running separate streamers in parallel to its more expensive premium offering through its iQ4 boxes, which now give access to streaming rivals such as Netflix.
“There’s an all-in-one-place experience. You want the big TV experience in the living room. You want the 4K quality shows that you can (get), you can browse onto that. You’ve got sport and entertainment all together. That is a different experience.
“What we’re going for is that growth in the streaming market.”
The market Binge enters is crowded and one of the most competitive outside the US. Along with Netflix and Stan, Binge will compete with the powerhouse of Disney+, which is estimated to have 1.8 million subscribers in Australia already.
The big tech streamers, Amazon Prime and Apple+, have also entered the Australian market, albeit slowly, but have the luxury of not needing to make money off their offerings and, in the case of Apple, is giving away its content free for a year.
Ogrin says rather than being a hindrance it means the Australian market is a sophisticated one with 4 million households already subscribing to entertainment streamers, and is expecting 85 per cent penetration of streaming services in the next three years. “So for us to come in having all that hard work being done, we are coming to capture that growth opportunity.”
With the NRL set to return this week and the AFL not far behind, it will be a much-needed boost to Kayo’s numbers that hit 470,000 in February but slumped to 275,000 amid COVID-19.
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