Avi Gandhi

VA Media has a smart YouTube-centric biz model. They combine premium content libraries with social AVOD distribution. HIGHLIGHTS - 20M YT subs - 26M hrs watched / month - 130M views / month They do this by buying AVOD rights to high quality Hollywood and library content. They also produce their own original content. Then they create profitable social-native O&O media brands via smart curation and audience development. Their O&O IP and licensed content can be extended to other AVOD distribution platforms, and can be monetized in a variety of ways outside YouTube Adsense. Further, they have a premium services team that can help rights holders better exploit their IP on YouTube and other socials through white-glove support. The business has a lot of growth headroom, and there's much more planned. We enjoyed working with the company's CEO Mark Ashbridge and his board. They're good people, and are asking the right quetions. If you're a rightsholder that wants to grow your audience reach and monetization through VA Media's global digital media network, they're worth a call. Or take a meeting with CEO Ash next time he's stateside (lives in AUS). -- I'm the founder of RockWater Industries. We do M&A and strategy advisory for media, agencies, and creator economy. My DMs are open.

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Spotify's Q2 earnings are the talk of the media world today. With gross profit up 29.2% YoY, 7 million subscribers added, and continued ad-supported revenue growth, it's no wonder the stock is up ≈13% as of writing this (and the highest since early '21). Most importantly, we now see a right-sized company that has figured out a way towards sustained profitability, which didn't look so obvious a few quarters ago. They were able to increase subscription fees, add subscribers, and continue to lean into revenue opportunities that offset music licensing fees, such as podcasts and audiobooks. Podcasts: Now, the bummer is that we didn't learn much about the podcast side of the business, except that ad revenue continues to grow. However, they continue to see podcasting as a great source of profitability (only a bummer because I want to see exactly how well it's doing, but great for the industry). Licensing of Pods: We also learned that licensing of content & wide distribution is paying off, which obviously provided more impressions and ad revenue for Q2. As you may remember, we predicted major platforms would lean into licensing content in early January. The funny thing is that this is the prediction that got the most pushback! A handful of astute investors and industry people told me I was wrong, Spotify was pulling back, yada yada yada. As the great Swedish rock band The Hives sang, "I hate to say I told you so," but as an industry, we need to scream our wins as loud as possible. (Of course, I had to nod to a Swedish band. Also, they are amazing live). https://lnkd.in/eQbw3NDc Video: Spotify now has over 250,000 video podcasts; over 170 million have watched a podcast on the platform. So, uh, let's watch this space. And stop asking if every podcast needs video. The answer is very clear.. Yes, you need a video strategy. Audiobooks: I remain highly bullish on Spotify's opportunity with Audiobooks. They are the clear favorite to be the first Audio Super App, which would allow them to charge a bit more while offering the full digital audio experience to users—capitalizing on the growing movement of broadcast radio listeners and book readers to digital audio. Audible is more vulnerable than I think they realize. All said it was a great quarter for Spotify... and the entire audio industry. I'll be back next week when SiriusXM announces its earnings. https://lnkd.in/efHFZide -- I'm the founder of DWNLOAD Media, a fund that invests in the audio space. If you'd like to learn why now is the time to invest in podcasting, DM me! I'll also recap all of the Q2 earnings via email. Sign up: https://lnkd.in/eysH5x5C Read the Q1 Recap: https://lnkd.in/etkGMXa7 Read the 2024 Outlook: https://lnkd.in/eW9nPCZQ #Spotify #SPOT #audio #podcasting #podcasts #music #audiobooks #investing

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A couple of months ago I posted about RIAA suing Verison. Last month Verizon shot back: https://lnkd.in/g23p4KSX What will be the end result of this “conversation’ playing out in court. In the long term. Is this a result of technology (streaming services) not addressing the problem that they were trying to solve? Perhaps this is a signal that further innovation is needed in how content is managed, distributed, and monetized online. There's a strong argument that, while tech helped create more accessible music platforms, it hasn't fully addressed the concerns of artists, songwriters, and other creators. Is this lawsuit an opportunity to revisit those revenue-sharing models and perhaps craft something fairer?  We want to move forward and not limit creativity as it seems the problem is still not solved. Where do we go from here?

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The MLC lists the rates of streaming and their financial logic from Spotify, Amazon, SoundCloud, and Youtube why doesn’t BMI or ASCAP provide this information? Perhaps the MLC should combine with ASCAP and BMI and create a new system that turns ISWC compositions into stock purchasing devices. The lack of transparency has led to the black box problem and now a new system is needed. https://lnkd.in/ezYnR-cP

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Spotify is making moves in podcasting by allowing non-hosted podcasters to upload videos directly to the platform. This new feature simplifies the workflow for creators and makes video content more accessible than ever. 🎥 The platform’s statistics show that more than 170 million users watch video podcasts, with a 40% year-over-year increase in monthly active users watching video podcasts. This demonstrates that video content engages a large audience, which can lead to increased retention and more robust user interaction on the platform. 📈 By focusing on video podcasts, Spotify differentiates itself from other audio-only podcast platforms, positioning itself as a leader in multimedia content. This strategic move can attract more creators and listeners, expanding its market share. #Spotify #VideoContent #DigitalMedia #ContentCreation #Innovation #Streaming

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They other streamers are gonna have a hard time competing. If cable bundling returns, they will do it. YouTube Accounted for Nearly 10% of All TV Viewing in March, Nielsen Says It’s the largest share for a streaming platform ever recorded by The Gauge, despite a 3% drop in total. YouTube was once again the breakout star of Nielsen’s monthly The Gauge report. During the month of March, the platform accounted for 9.7% of all television viewing, an increase of 0.4 share points from February. This is the largest share of TV for a streaming platform ever reported in The Gauge. This month marked YouTube’s 13th consecutive month as having the largest share among streaming services. Overall, TV usage dropped 3% from February to March, which wasn’t a surprise. This drop aligns with seasonal trends Nielsen has previously recorded. However, cable and streaming felt this impact the least. Unsurprisingly, streaming was the category winner of March as it was the only category to see a year-over-year increase. Compared to March of 2023, streaming viewership rose 12%, and the category added 4.4 share points. Streaming was also minimally impacted during the February-to-March drop. Viewership for streaming fell just 1%, resulting in a 38.5% share of overall TV viewed for the month of March. Though YouTube was the most watched streamer, accounting for the aforementioned 9.7% of total TV viewed, Netflix was close behind, making up 8.1% of the category. The company also boasted three of the month’s most-watched streaming originals, which resulted in a combined nearly 15 million viewing minutes for March: “Love Is Blind,” “The Gentleman” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” Though cable wasn’t as impacted from February to March, it did experience a year-over-year decline. The category saw a decline of 10% and a loss of 2.8 share points when compared to the same time period in 2023. Viewing on cable from February to March saw a 0.7-point bump in share points, resulting in 28.3% of all television being watched on cable networks. This was partially due to college basketball viewership, specifically viewership around the women’s NCAA tournament. The matchup between Iowa and West Virginia brought in 4.9 million viewers on ESPN and ranked as the No. 7 cable telecast for the month. The State of the Union also gave cable a viewership bump, earning 14.1 million viewers for cable and 32.3 million viewers altogether. Despite this drop, The Gauge report made note of broadcast’s resiliency. Since the report was first released in 2021, broadcast has always made up the smallest share of overall TV viewership, originally accounting for 25.4% of TV compared to cable’s 39.5% and streaming’s 26.2%.

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Great article from Rob Wile at NBC News on why FAST services like Pluto TV or Tubi are already incredibly successful and why we are still scratching the surface of something way bigger🚀 💵 .Ross Compton, CFA provides a spot-on analysis that resonates with our vision a decade ago when we spearheaded the FAST market with Pluto TV. "It’s a repackaged version of the old method of distribution, noting that the original broadcast networks were all supported by advertising and the only investment a viewer had to make was in a TV set and an antenna. Now, it’s the same thing, just over the internet. The demand for FAST channels is sustainable — for one simple reason. You really can’t beat free." (Ross Compton, CFA) Free and easy access combined with high-quality content shaped the golden age of TV. The same ingredients are needed for FAST, even if we needed to rethink channel programming and curation in the new era of internet, social networks and the overabundance of video content. Same is true for advertising, it has funded so much of the best TV content over the decades. FAST advertising is like TV advertising but with more data, targeting and measurement! So YES, there is such a brillant future in front of the FAST business! 📺 #FAST #PlutoTV #Tubi #NBCnews #fastchannel #Avod #streaming

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The New York Times is expanding its audio subscription service to Apple Podcasts and Spotify, giving listeners the option to pay $6/month or $50/year for access to their back catalog of episodes, already offered in their NYT Audio app. As highlighted in the DWNLOAD Media Report, subscription revenue presents a massive opportunity in the podcasting world. We're already seeing this, as many companies I’ve worked with have consistently raised their subscription revenue forecasts throughout the year. It’s clear the Times sees the same potential, smartly making their subscriptions available on more platforms. And let’s not forget—the Times knows a thing or two about subscriptions. With nearly 11 million subscribers already and an ambitious target of 15 million by the end of 2027, they’ve mastered the art of converting readers (and now listeners) into loyal paying customers. Or did they master the art of converting listeners into paid readers...? 🤔 That said, I’d love to see more creativity around subscription models over the next few quarters. The current playbook of back catalog access and windowed content is a solid start, but there’s room to push the envelope. Think special events, one-off purchases, or truly premium bonus content that’s actually worth the price tag. Wait... am I accidentally describing OnlyFans for audio? Anyway, back to the real point: Subscriptions are on track to become not just a significant revenue stream for top-tier creators, but the dominant one. Combine that with the impressive growth in podcast ad revenue—which is outpacing nearly every other digital medium—and it's clear we’re looking at an industry that’s still wildly undervalued. h/t Sara Fischer -- 👋 I'm the founder of DWNLOAD Media, a fund that invests in the audio space. I'm also available for advising services in and around the audio space. If you'd like to learn more, DM me! Read the DWNLOAD Report Q2 Update: https://lnkd.in/evdQkFwb

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