The online press briefing that preceded the Monday May 25 launch of the new streaming service Binge helps explain what the service is. It’s not a version of Foxtel. There was no sight of Foxtel boss Patrick Delany or executive director of TV Brian Walsh.
Binge of course has access to most of the programming pool that Foxtel manages, but Binge has its own content creators and marketing team.
See more: Mediaweek’s guide to Binge Part 1: Pricing and content highlights
When it comes to TV, most Foxtel drama and much lifestyle and reality content will also be available.
Binge launch buzzwords
Our vision – kill the scroll
Unturnoffable
Champion the freedom to indulge
We are hi-jacking the category with best drama, entertainment & movies
Binge CEO Julian Ogrin (pictured) explained to Mediaweek that when any of those shows screen on Foxtel they will also be available on Binge.
While all of the content can be selected on-demand, there will also be a handful of live channels. We will find out which ones on Monday!
Movies seem to be a work in progress this stage – Binge is calling the movie library “an extensive collection” with further details to follow.
Mrs America credit FX
Binge customers won’t see many ads. Content that streams simultaneously with Foxtel will carry the same ads that Foxtel runs, but all Binge on-demand content will be ad free.
Binge is expecting to be an addition to the streaming services people have, not a replacement for any, including Foxtel.
“Audiences will look at our product and make up their minds,” Ogrin told Mediaweek. “Our aim is not to compete with Foxtel, it is a massive market, Australia, and we are going to really go hard for that streaming market.”
How big a market? Ogrin said there are currently 4m homes in Australia with streaming subscriptions, that market is forecast to grow to 8m in 2023.
Succession credit HBO
Ogrin explained why Kayo costs $25 and Binge starts at just $10.
“First and foremost, Kayo is all about live sport. It’s predominantly a lot of sport, we’re talking about the Netflix of sports. One of the things with Kayo is we actually are delivering over 700 hours of live sport on a weekend. You can imagine the complexities of running that service over and above say, a video entertainment, media on-demand entertainment service. Hence that price point.
“What we did when we looked at Binge, firstly, we studied the market. The market pricing has obviously been set.”
It’s clearly no accident that the HD package prices for Binge, Netflix and Stan are all $14.
See also: Mediaweek’s guide to Binge Part 3: Buying advice – why and why not?
Ogrin: “We researched that price point so there is an entry-level price point of $10. What we do know, through our research, and we’re pretty confident, the real hero will be that $14 with two streams and high definition.
“First and foremost, people want HD. Secondly, there are a lot of households now that are multi-device, with multi-person users. You’re looking at targeting the data we presented today, the number of devices and users in the household is growing. Hence the reason that $14 will be the logical entry point for most consumers.”
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills credit NBCUniversal
One thing that Binge won’t be doing is promoting itself to Kayo customers.
“It’s a different product, different category,” said Ogrin. “This is all about selling Binge into the audiences that want entertainment. Kayo’s job is to build audiences, the newer sporting audiences, into the streaming world there as well.”