MEDIA & CONTENT
Bridging the streaming gap:
the niche advantage Julia Dimambro, CEO of Seriously Fresh Media, takes a look at how targeted content, good data and niche markets can create a power content offering – even in the age of Netflix and the rest of the ‘Big 5’ In the dynamic realm of streaming platforms dominated by industry giants such as Netflix, Prime and HBO, the pursuit of the broadest possible appeal has been the central strategy to date. These streaming titans engage in an ongoing battle to outspend each other to create the blockbuster title that will have us all talking, often resulting in a saturated market where differen-
tiation becomes a challenge. As we have witnessed, even the allure of mega-series such as Game of Thrones, or Squid Game can only sustain subscriber interest for a limited time. This begs the question:iIs there an untapped avenue for smaller players to thrive by offering content tailored to niche interests? The “Big 5” streaming platforms — Prime, Netflix, Paramount+,
Hulu and Max — operate by casting a wide net for content to appeal to the largest audience. They invest heavily in a diverse range of content genres designed to appeal to multiple cultures, ages, and interests, and maximise long-term subscriptions. However, the downside of this strategy is evident in the struggle to retain subscribers when offerings are perceived as interchangeable.
TARGETED CONTENT
In contrast to the one-size-fitsall model of major streaming
platforms, smaller players, such as clients of Seriously Fresh Media (SFM), are capitalising on the commercial potential of specialised entertainment services. These services curate content around specific hobbies, interests, or genres, providing a more targeted and personalised viewing experience. Whether it’s cooking, comedy, sports, or children’s content, the aim is to carve out a niche and secure a dedicated, loyal audience.
NICHE AUDIENCES
Even within the major streaming platforms, we can see clear consumer preferences for specific content verticals. This strengthens the case for targeted niche entertainment services for MVAS and offers great commercial potential for Telemedia companies if you don’t have a Netflix budget for original content and marketing. With the global market size
The power of video revealed The true power of video content – long, short, mainstream and niche – is clearly demonstrated by YouTube. According to experts at Productivity Spot who analysed web traffic data from SimilarWeb across more than 1000 of the most popular websites worldwide, YouTube lies way out in front. The study found that from a traffic perspective, YouTube was second only to Google, which came out on top with a score of 72.75 out of 100. Google has a staggering 3.19 billion unique users per month. However, each user spends ‘just’ 10 minutes 37 seconds on the search engine per visit. For the study. Productivity Spot ranked each website according to an index, which considered the number of monthly visitors, the amount of time each user stays on the site, the number of pages each user views, its accessibility score, as well as the bounce rate – the percentage of users who click off after the first page. YouTube, on the other hand, was revealed as the website that people spend the most time on, with an index score of 65.56 out of 100. It clocked a staggering 33.57 billion visits per month, making it the second most
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visited website in the world behind Google. An impressive 1.97 billion visits each month were found to be from unique users, which equates to every person visiting the site 17 times per month on average. YouTube also had one of the longest visit durations of any website, with users spending 20 minutes and 22 seconds on average per session. Facebook ranked third overall behind Google and YouTube, with an overall score of 62.07 out of 100. The social media platform generates 17.2 billion monthly visits per month on average, with 1.49 billion being visits from individual users. Users were found to spend approximately 10 minutes 36 seconds per visit to the site, and typically viewed 8.65 pages of content per visit. Placing fourth is Wikipedia with a score of 62.07 out of 100. The online encyclopedia generates 4.41 billion visits per month across its user-generated subpages. Users spend an average of 3 minutes 53 seconds on the site per visit, a significantly lower than that of Google, YouTube and Facebook. Rounding off the top five is Instagram with a score of 59.95 out of 100. Around
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6.68 billion monthly visits are made to the media sharing site each month from approximately 1.11 billion unique users. Users spent around 8 minutes 17 seconds on the site, excluding time spent in app. Making up the remainder of the top ten are X (Twitter), Whatsapp, Yahoo, Amazon and Discord. Jim Markus, Director at Productivity Spot comments on the study: “YouTube seems to have captured our attention the most, with the average user spending more than 20 minutes watching content and browsing the platform each time they visit. The average duration of a YouTube video is estimated to be 4 minutes 24 seconds, meaning that each user is watching 4.6 videos on average per desktop visit. “Surprisingly, TikTok failed to break the top twenty, ranking 60th overall, which could be due to most users browsing TikTok using the app rather than web-based or mobile browsers. Despite the app’s addictive nature, users were found to spend a surprisingly brief 3 minutes and 47 seconds on the site, when visiting from a browser.”
