Stephen Langsford from Quickflix, Australia’s first streaming service, says yesterday’s announcement of streaming service “Stan” comes too late.
Langford believes the planned launch is belated acknowledgement commercial TV is under pressure as audiences shift from free-to-air to on-demand viewing, without ad breaks.
Commenting on the announcement, Quickflix founder and CEO Langsford said: “It comes as no surprise that broadcasters are seeking to enter the streaming sector which Quickflix has pioneered in Australia.
“Streaming is one of the fastest growing sectors in the media and entertainment industry and poses a major challenge to broadcasters who face declining advertising revenues as audiences switch their viewing to on-demand services like streaming.
“We’ve understood for some time that audiences are frustrated with limited programming on free-to-air and the bugbear of advertisements. Over the last ten years we have sought to bring about more choice in consumers’ access to movie and TV show entertainment in Australia; first in online DVD rental and then streaming. We have a solid start having delivered over 50 million movies and TV shows to over half a million customers generating $100 million in revenue.
“While StreamCo is getting to the starting line, Quickflix will continue to innovate and expand its lineup of quality content. It promises to be an exciting year ahead for the streaming sector with more and more customers discovering the streaming alternative to commercial TV.”
Quickflix launched its streaming service more than four years ago, and since then the SVOD offering believes it has developed the most comprehensive device coverage across smartTVs, game consoles, mobile and tablets to reach the largest potential audience whilst adding thousands of hours of content and registering more than half a million devices.
