Make Room For Struum: The Future Of Streaming?
By João Santos
If you’re like me, then you’re always looking for an excuse to close yourself off from the outside world and binge-watch a new TV show.
The problem arises when looking for that new TV show is both tedious and hard on your wallet.
Perhaps that’s exactly what you were doing before clicking on this article. Fear not, Struum (rhymes with ‘room’) has arrived to revolutionise the industry with its ‘ClassPass’ business model.
So, what is Struum and why is its business model special?
Co-founded by former Disney executives, Struum is a new streaming start-up that aims to give an opportunity to those many lesser known streaming services who are “trying to find space and voice,” explains co-founder Lauren DeVillier.
With its ‘ClassPass’ business model, largely inspired in the service of the same name that allowed gym-goers to, using credits, join classes in a multitude of gyms without having to subscribe to a specific gym.
Struum’s goal, then, is to aggregate the lesser known (over 250) streaming services and their content in order to give them an opportunity in a market controlled by a handful of streaming giants.
A noble idea if you ask me.
Unlike any other streaming platform, Struum doesn’t possess any content of its own, instead it relies strictly on the content provided by the SVODs it will partner with.
Customers will be given a number of credits via Struum’s own monthly subscription and be able to use them to watch shows through Struum’s app (an official price has not yet been released, but speculation of $9.99 for 100 credits has roamed the internet).
Not only that, if consumers show a tendency to content provided by a specific streaming platform, Struum will recommend they subscribe to their favoured streaming service, all without leaving Struum’s own interface.
This, then, will lead to a profitable outcome to all parties involved. Struum via its own monthly subscription and partnership deals; and streaming services via Struum’s ability to reach a wider audience.
This is also great news for us consumers, as we will be able to “seamlessly discover and consume content form multiple SVOD providers,” explains co-founder Thomas Wadsworth in his LinkedIn profile, as well as reduce “consumer friction points around sign-ups and subscription management”.
Everyone gets a slice of the cake.
Who are Struum’s masterminds?
Struum was co-founded by four former Disney executives, two of which have been previously mentioned.
CFO Thomas Wadsworth, former head of new product development at Disney Parks, has also had a massive influence on Disney’s now massively popular Disney+ streaming service via his work with its predecessors, Disney Interactive and DisneyLife.
Struum logo
Like Wadsworth, Lauren DeVillier, now CEO of Struum, has had a huge influence in today’s streaming environment with her work on “the new Direct-To-Consumer IPTV and SVOD business models that are now standard in the industry”. In her time at Disney, DeVillier, amongst other things, “led all aspects of digital media and experience” and renewed the business model of Disney Channel.
On the business side, the now CBO Paul Pastor worked his way up in his eight-year journey at Disney and became SVP, strategy and consumer analytics of the DisneyABC TV Group.
Pastor has also significantly invested in Struum through another company he is a co-founder of: Firstlight Media.
Last but certainly not least, Eugene Liew is sure to bring his own take on Struum after working as VP of product and technology at Disney+.
Who’s taking a slice of the action?
As stated, one of Struum’s main investors is Firstlight Media, but what does this mean for Struum?
In short, and as André Christensen, CEO and co-founder of Firstlight Media, explained: “Our OTT accelerator will extend Firstlight Media’s value beyond Tier 1 clients by harnessing Paul’s success with major brands and his entrepreneurial expertise to benefit new entrants who are on Tier 1 trajectories.”
Gaingels, the leading investment syndicate that supports and represents the LGBTQ+ community, also has a major hand in Struum’s investment, suggesting a sensitivity to the community’s representation in the company in terms of staffing and/or available content.
Staying in the Disney theme, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, through his private investment firm, Tornante Company, has given his blessing to the success of Struum in the streaming market.
What are the key takeaways?
Expect Struum to work on revolutionising the streaming industry and start levelling the playing field when it comes to the current market; one that is controlled up to 75% by the big names of the streaming industry such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and Disney+.
It’s a company whose founders and investors have a vast array of knowledge of the industry and are ideally placed to give a voice to the lesser known streaming services.
We will hopefully be seeing a more diverse landscape of content in the spotlight; and more importantly, content that doesn’t only belong to the big names, perhaps even encouraging the production of more niche movies and TV shows.