The Many Generation Z Video Services Are Due for a Shakeup

你知道吗? Go90 从全屏? 你能说出一部原创作品或主演吗 YouTube红? 你知道下面哪个折过吗? 船 or AwesomenessTV? (船在Verizon收购后不久就倒闭了.)如果你在在线视频行业工作, you’ve probably heard of all of these online video services, 包, 和渠道, which are aimed at that advertiser-coveted Generation Z demographic. But unless you’re a tween or teen, you probably don’t know much about them. 我猜即使是目标受众也会感到不知所措.

大玩家包括Go90, which is free and run by Verizon; 全屏, 部分归AT所有&T and has a $6 per month subscription service (currently available for free to DirecTV Now customers); 值得注意的, which is owned by Comcast and also free; and YouTube红, which costs $10 per month and lets subscribers skip YouTube commercials (I’ve heard that’s actually the chief appeal for paying customers). 几个小, OTT (over-the-top)服务也瞄准了同样的市场, 包括Crunchyroll(每月7美元), Alpha版(每月5美元起), 和认真.TV and RatedRed, both of which are owned by Verizon Hearst Media Partners and are free.

From my terribly aged perspective, these could all be the same service. 但它们真的有微分问题吗? 为了找到答案，我采访了Brendan Gahan 史诗的信号, a marketing agency that helps brands grow online audiences. Prior to that, he was vice president of brand strategy at 全屏, back before it joined with AT&T.

“For me personally, they blur together,Gahan说, confirming my suspicion. He thinks they probably blur together for Generation Z viewers as well. But 从 his perspective, that’s only the first problem these competing offerings face. 这些服务, 基于订阅模式构建, compete with a legion of free content that’s already available.

“If you’re a kid and you can see these guys every single day for free on YouTube, how do you convince your mom or dad to then go pay for the exact same thing?Gahan想知道. “I could picture the parents being like, ‘You’re already watching so much TV. Why am I going to pay for you to watch the same content?’,” he says, especially when the parents may already pay for services like HBO, Netflix, and Hulu.

It’s a difficult value proposition to communicate: When there are plenty of YouTube stars with follower counts in the millions putting out multiple videos per week, why would a young person need to pay for exclusive content?

下一个问题是, 即使是免费的广告支持服务, 一天只有那么多小时.

“There’s all kinds of stats about how many apps people are willing to use in a given day, and oftentimes people will download an app and then just keep it on their phone and never open it after the first time,Gahan说. “It almost seems as though we’re always defying the odds and consuming more and consuming more and consuming more. I think these guys have a difficult job ahead of them and it’s by no means a slam dunk.”

If differentiation is the problem, then differentiation is also the solution. 这些服务 need to craft clear identities that are distinct 从 the competition. Right now, they’re all mobile-friendly 包 serving similar shows to young people. All their content looks like it came out of the same pitch meeting. 这还不够.

“It seems like Go90 has been probably the one that’s done the most to build their brand, 这对我个人来说是最容易辨认的. I think that alignment with Verizon plays a big part in that,” Gahan suggests. Yes, Go90 is a recognizable brand, but it also just had layoffs and is reorganizing. 一些人已经把它注销了.

祝它好运，因为一场大变革即将到来. Gahan compares the current crop of Gen Z video services to the YouTube competitors in the mid-2000s. 还记得Revver、Google Video和MetaCafe吗? YouTube had the lead, but these and other video destinations mounted a challenge. The market couldn’t sustain them all, and YouTube is the survivor. Likewise, only a few of today’s Gen Z services are going to find a lasting audience.

多亏了他们与Verizon和AT的联系&T—and the built-in distribution that gives them—Gahan thinks Go90 and 全屏 have the best shot. Quality content matters, but so does the ability to get in front of people.

“There’s clearly an opportunity in the market, but it’s not going to be for everyone. There’s going to be a few that will come out ahead,” Gahan predicts.

我迫不及待地想要这个大变动, because once it does I’ll finally be able to remember all the players.

本文发表于2017年4月/ 5月号 流媒体杂志 “Z世代视频服务将迎来大变革”."