From The Archives

From the Archives revisits BBC iPlayer's 2007 launch, which made free catch-up viewing a consumer expectation and pressured traditional TV rights models. Now generating 8.9 billion annual requests, iPlayer faces growing funding challenges and increased dependence on third-party platforms like…

From the Archives revisits Tencent Video's 2019 early-access paywall, which generated millions of purchases but sparked backlash and legal challenges that ended the practice in 2021. Tencent later revived early access through its premium SVIP tier, highlighting the opportunity to…

From the Archives revisits how CanalPlay entered France’s SVOD market nearly three years before Netflix but faced rules that limited recent films, exclusive rights, and distribution advantages. By the time regulators loosened some restrictions in 2017, global competitors had already…

From the Archives revisits how Viki turned fan-powered localization into a distribution advantage, using community subtitling to expand into new markets while revealing where demand was forming. As AI makes translation cheaper, Viki's bigger advantage remains the community intelligence that…

From the Archives revisits how Hotstar used cricket to drive app installs, advertising, and subscription growth at massive scale. Disney’s loss of IPL digital rights showed how quickly that audience could move, while JioHotstar now expands the model by combining…

From the Archives revisits TV Guide’s push to own the interface viewers used to decide what to watch, turning navigation into valuable real estate for advertising, promotion and transactions. That same battle now plays out across connected TV, where home-screen…

From the Archives revisits how MoviePass turned its $9.95 unlimited plan into a cultural phenomenon while making every additional movie watched more expensive for the company. It proved consumers wanted theatrical subscriptions at scale, but AMC and Regal were better…

From the Archives revisits Facebook Watch’s attempt to turn Facebook’s social graph into a destination for episodic video through original programming, Watch Parties, Groups, and ad-supported economics. Facebook couldn’t turn its massive reach into a durable TV habit, highlighting an…

From the Archives revisits Locast’s attempt to stream local broadcast TV for free using a nonprofit copyright exemption, a model that collapsed once user payments began funding expansion. Locast also showed how free local feeds could give distributors leverage in…

From the Archives revisits AOL’s push to dominate digital video through AOL On, syndication, and Adap.tv, which helped the company become the No. 1 U.S. video ad property by impressions in 2013 without building a dominant consumer viewing destination. AOL…