DistroTV stands as an independent free, ad-supported streaming TV service within a market positioned for major growth over the next few years.
According to streaming video research firm nScreenMedia, ad revenue earned by virtual linear channels will grow from $2.1 billion in 2021 to $4.1 billion in 2023. It’s acceptable to think that big players like the Roku Channel, Pluto TV and Tubi—with ties to major media companies like ViacomCBS and Fox—will claim a lot of the new ad dollars flowing into free streaming. But Navdeep Saini, co-founder and CEO of DistroTV parent company DistroScale, sees his company competing long-term.
DistroTV—a multichannel streaming service that allows users in without needing to provide any personal information like email addresses—has been recently expanding globally and adding new content. Today, the company announced the upcoming premiere of “Escándalo Secreto: En Plena Cuarentena,” its first original film.
Saini recently spoke with Fierce Video about what’s next for his company, the advantages of staying independent, and investing in new content partners.
The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Fierce Video: DistroTV just announced its first original film. How big of a role will originals play in the service’s growth strategy going forward?
Navdeep Saini: We’ll be opportunistic about it. It depends on how well things go. If things are going well, we’ll scale it more, obviously, and if they’re not, then we will go at a slower pace.
Fierce Video: DistroTV just expanded distribution into Latin America and Mexico. Can we expect more international expansion in 2022?
Saini: We’ve been global from the get-go as a service. Our initial focus was the U.S., Canada and the U.K. and now we’ve opened the app to another 17 or 18 Latin American countries…We are already available in more than 40 countries. The content licensing and partnerships that we develop are based on the region, and as it develops, we open it up once we feel like there’s content for audiences in that market. Since we’re supported by advertising, those relationships also need to be put in place.
Fierce Video: DistroTV often refers to itself as an independent FAST service. Do you think that gives you an advantage in the market?
Saini: That’s an interesting question. Advantages? We are not part of some big media company so this allows us to be of service to more diverse audiences. We can also bring different content. The way we look at it is we are building communities of audiences whether that’s local TV, Spanish-language content or niche sports like lacrosse and cycling.
We are essentially building communities of audiences and I think for us, what we focus on is where audiences start engaging with us. We can fulfill the need of the underserved audiences.
Fierce Video: Is it about identifying the audience needs and then finding the appropriate content partners or is it about content partners approaching you?
Saini: A little bit of both. We look at that and then if we get content opportunities, we look at if there’s a need for that, and sometimes we identify a need and then seek out content partners.
Fierce Video: DistroTV builds linear channels for content partners. How does your company benefit from this besides having more content on the platform?
Saini: All our revenue is through advertising. It’s an advertising revenue share, essentially. But this is an additional value add where we are making, if you would consider, an investment along with that publisher. Typically, they would have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to build a channel every month and then additional money on syndicating that channel. If we see an opportunity, we build a channel for the partner at no cost to them. Ultimately, that’s an investment in bringing interesting content to our audiences and building our business.
Fierce Video: Do you see DistroTV as in competition with some of the other FAST services in the U.S. and internationally like the Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Tubi and Peacock?
Saini: Absolutely! Pluto and Tubi and on the news front, I would say STIRR is another competitor.
Fierce Video: Does DistroTV have the scale to compete long-term and can you continue to pursue your strategy as is?
Saini: Oh, I think we’ll have the scale, absolutely. We’re building the business and we will have the scale to compete with those services.