Motor Trend, a brand targeted at auto enthusiasts, stands as the latest effort to jump into the SVOD world with its new OnDemand service. Vendors Kaltura and 3 Screen Solutions are powering the offering, created by Motor Trend owner TEN: The Enthusiast Network.
"The launch of Motor Trend OnDemand represents another important milestone in the evolution of TEN to a well-diversified producer of world class content delivered to enthusiasts where they want it, when they want it and how they want it," said TEN CEO Scott Dickey in a release. "By using the Kaltura/3 Screen Solutions combined solution, we were able to bring a premium-quality service to market very quickly."
Motor Trend joins a large and growing number of customers that have signed on to Kaltura's OTT products. Kaltura's other featured customers include TMZ, Gogo, HBO, Paramount and others. Kaltura boasts of itself as "the world's first Open Source Online Video Platform;" the company provides services to both enterprise and commercial players for video publishing, management, syndication and monetization. 3 Screen Solutions, meantime, works with a variety of streaming video technology providers to design and implement video services.
Motor Trend is the latest player in the crowded market for SVOD services. The offering stems in part from the Speedvision cable channel that went dark in 2013; the new Motor Trend OnDemand SVOD service bills itself as "designed to fill the appetite of auto enthusiasts left underserved due to the exit of a major automotive cable network from the market." Motor Trend OnDemand promises to offer over 1,000 hours of programming including 800 annual hours of premier international motorsport coverage and 60 live-streamed events alongside original, long-form episodic programming from the likes of Hot Rod, Four Wheeler and other TEN brands. Interestingly, the service also promises an advertising component that is "in context and with relevance so as to be unobtrusive to the user as possible."
TEN said it was able to launch its new SVOD service in less than four months with Kaltura and 3 Screen Solutions. The service is available across computers, iOS and Android smartphones and Roku devices. Motor Trend OnDemand costs $6.99 for a monthly subscription, $74.95 for a year pass and $129.95 for two years.
It's unclear how the market for these SVOD services will play out. Already major players like Netflix and Amazon have staked out a position in the market with a collection of widely accessible content, but niche plays like the WWE Network and DisneyLife in the UK are working to scratch out a position by creating content libraries targeted to enthusiasts.
Early indications are positive. WWE Network reported more than 1 million paying customers to its own SVOD service.
For more:
- see this release
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