A first look at Stan
Yesterday streaming service Stan invited some members of the public to have a first look at the new platform. Mumbrella editor Alex Hayes looks at what it has to offer.
Of all the streaming services being talked about at the moment (and yes there are a lot – Presto, Netflix, Quickflix etc.) the one that’s most intrigued me is the joint offering from Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media – Stan.
So when I got the invite to have a preview of it which went out to the public yesterday, I leapt at it. However, my initial impressions were not good.
I signed up on my work Mac, only to be told Stan isn’t supported on Google Chrome on Macs, one of the bigger browsers. And when I tried to get it to load in Safari it loaded with glacial speed. Not a promising start.
Content and Price will be key factor in success as Australians don’t have a high propensity to pay for content, just ask Foxtel.
“However, my initial impressions were not good.”
“Despite the glitches my first impressions were good.”
Good point Anonymous – the perils of little time to write.
I’ve adjusted it to ‘overall impression’ instead.
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella
Hey Alex – what was the streaming experience like given our internet speeds? any issues?
Hi Awesome,
I actually found the streaming pretty slick – my home internet isn’t the fastest yet after a few seconds to load shows played no problem.
It does appear to monitor the network and change between HD and SD depending on the speed – which is service available on Netflix. Overall it was satisfactory – especially pre-public release.
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella
Great, thanks for your response mate. And thanks for the overall write up, really interesting. Are you going to do similar write up’s for the other streaming services when available?
@awesome – We’ll play it by ear. Stan is the first ‘new’ service, Presto has had a tweak for the TV content but been around for a while, and Netflix will be interesting from a content perspective – but I’ll bear it in mind.
Cheers, Alex
I am trialling Stan and I agree with these comments. It will live or die on content. It needs to have a quarantined area for the kids especially the small kids. Watched the Hobbit movie and it was a good quality. For $10/month it isn’t too bad.
Second para: “However, my initial impressions were not good.”
Second last para: “Despite the glitches my first impressions were good.”
Thanks for making a confusing area just that little bit more confusing…
Hi Spinner,
As I said to anonymous that was a good point, and had been changed to “overall impressions” at 3pm.
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella
We also tried out stan last night, on a smart TV. After using Netflix and HULU (and Crackle (owned by Sony) which is free) with native Apps on the Tv the UX/UI while simple is not as intuitive – using a browser does not make it great.
The content is not overwhelming as yet and as Alex mentioned loads of Channel 9 content as to be expected
I would imagine that within 1-2 years that there will be consolidation with providers in the AU streaming market.
A smart move maybe to bundle/partner with ISPs that then allow free steaming so as to not use all the quota – if discussions are not already under way.
Stan has made an ok start but I don’t think I’ll continue beyond the free month.
Last night we browsed and explored what is essentially back catalogues of studios and end up watching SBS.
Alex, Interesting read, but where does this leave advertisers? It’s going to be so hard to reach people with all this fragmentation – and let’s not mention the fact people are zapping through ad breaks on free to air, or ignoring them by jumping onto social media. I know this is a site aimed at the advertising industry, but surely fragmentation is the greatest challenge to the industry in years?
free reign? fee rein