A new Independent Streaming Alliance (ISA) has been formed by a number of FAST companies, including Allen Media Group, Chicken Soup for the Soul and Cineverse, to help promote competition within the streaming space, and support independent streamers as they find themselves increasingly facing competing from larger players.
One of the benefits of the streaming space is the sheer volume of choices that are now available. This level of choice has grown even more quickly in recent times thanks to the creation and expansion of the free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) subsector of the market.
Now, in a bid to support independent ad-supported video streaming services, a number of companies have joined together to form the Independent Streaming Alliance. One of the main purposes of the ISA is to proactively engage and work collaboratively with consumers, platforms, regulators, and media.
The founding members of the new ISA include Allen Media Group, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Cineverse, Future Today, kweliTV, Revry, Scripps, Tastemade, TMB (Trusted Media Brands), and Vevo.
Most of these founding members were “early adopters of FAST and played a major role in its initial growth and adoption,” according to Cameron Saless, Chief Business Officer at TMB. According to the ISA, these companies also “collectively offer over 2,200 independent streaming touchpoints, which generate more than half a billion hours of watch time every month.”
Providing they are eligible, other independent ad-supported video streaming services that are distributed on connected devices and TVs are also now able to apply to join the ISA.
Looking forward, the ISA now hopes to offer support through dedicated groups that will focus on measurement, distribution, and demand. As the ISA explains, these are seen as key ‘opportunity and challenge’ marketplace areas for independent streamers.
Essentially, the goal here is to help ensure that independent streamers can better compete with larger media and tech companies that are now looking to cement their own position within the streaming industry, and especially within the FAST sector that many of these independent streamers helped establish in the first place.
