Next in Media: How to Reach Multicultural Audiences in the Stream-First Era

Release Date: November 19, 2024
Host: Mike Shields
Guest: Patrick Courtney, Chief Business Officer at Fuse Media

Introduction

In this insightful episode of Next in Media, host Mike Shields engages in a comprehensive dialogue with Patrick Courtney, Chief Business Officer at Fuse Media. The conversation delves into the evolving landscape of multimedia consumption, particularly focusing on strategies to effectively reach multicultural audiences in the stream-first era. The discussion navigates through Fuse Media's diverse operations, programming strategies across various platforms, challenges within the FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) landscape, and the nuances of advertising in a rapidly shifting market.

Fuse Media: A Multifaceted Leader in Inclusive Entertainment

Patrick Courtney opens by providing an overview of Fuse Media's dynamic evolution over the past two decades.

"[Fuse Media has] become the global leader of inclusive entertainment... reaching a multicultural audience across two traditional linear networks, seven owned and operated FAST channels, a subscription service, and digital and social platforms."
(01:24)

Fuse Media prides itself on being a diverse-owned, Latino-owned company, emphasizing its commitment to inclusivity. Courtney elaborates on his role in supporting the company’s growth and adaptation in a swiftly changing media environment.

Understanding the Target Audience

A key focus of the conversation centers on Fuse Media's target demographic—a young, multicultural audience aged 18 to 34. Courtney emphasizes the diversity within this group, noting variations across different distribution mediums.

"Our audience is at scale across these different platforms, a young multicultural audience, is an audience that has tremendous buying power and is something that general advertisers are looking to reach right now."
(12:58)

He highlights that while pay TV tends to attract an older segment, the FAST and subscription services cater to younger viewers, each with distinct preferences and viewing habits.

Programming Strategies Across Platforms

Courtney discusses the intricacies of adapting programming strategies to suit various platforms:

"Our programming strategy has had to adapt to... how we program our pay TV linear and how we program our seven FAST channels or our subscription service."
(03:23)

FAST Channels: Initially, Fuse Media approached FAST channels by aggregating existing content, but realized the importance of tailored scheduling and programming based on audience behavior, leading to significant growth.

"We've seen enormous growth simply because of how you day part things, how you schedule the programming."
(04:56)

Subscription Services: Unlike FAST channels, subscription models require original programming to retain subscribers amidst high churn rates. Fuse Media focuses on bundling with platform partners to ensure economic sustainability.

Navigating Challenges in the FAST Landscape

The discussion shifts to the challenges faced within the FAST ecosystem, particularly regarding data transparency and platform standardization.

"There's a limited amount of information, data that's coming through as far as the content, the performance of the channels... how to start to measure these things and start to be a little bit more actionable."
(08:44)

Courtney underscores the fragmented nature of FAST platforms, each with unique configurations and lack of standardization, complicating content distribution and performance measurement.

He also touches on the ad sales market's transformation:

"We're starting to look at... how do we adapt to these things when there's less of a need for brands and advertisers to commit budgets upfront."
(10:30)

Embracing Programmatic Advertising

A significant portion of the conversation centers on programmatic advertising, where Fuse Media has adopted a programmatic direct approach, minimizing reliance on open marketplaces.

"We have a very strong programmatic direct business. We do very little open marketplace."
(13:27)

This strategy stems from Fuse Media’s ability to offer premium, curated inventory through partnerships like Culture Collective, enhancing ad sales efficiency and maintaining higher CPMs.

"Culture Collective is a group of partnerships that we've established... to curate a differentiated supply of inventory that could be bought contextually across very premium programming."
(14:26)

Culture Collective: Enhancing Ad Solutions

Culture Collective represents Fuse Media’s strategic collaborations with partners such as Lionsgate Trust, Trusted Media, and Tastemade to offer premium, multicultural-focused content.

"Our first stop is Lionsgate... channels like Ebony TV and series like 'Are We There Yet?' fit well within our positioning with Culture Collective."
(14:26)

This initiative aims to provide advertisers with high-quality, contextually relevant inventory that resonates with Fuse Media’s young, multicultural audience.

Navigating the Streaming Service Terrain

Mike Shields brings attention to Fuse Media's standalone streaming service, a challenging venture amidst the competitive streaming wars.

"We've generally not looked at direct to consumer. We've looked at what are the reseller marketplaces and how are they going to evolve."
(17:20)

Fuse Media avoids the pitfalls of high churn rates by leveraging reseller partnerships and focusing on bundling strategies with platform providers, ensuring sustainable subscriber acquisition and retention.

Overcoming Multicultural Market Barriers

Courtney addresses the persistent challenges in the multicultural marketing space, such as being pigeonholed into specific budgets or segments.

"We're looking at budgets from both areas... capturing budgets that are allocated for diverse owned media specifically."
(12:17)

He emphasizes the buying power of the multicultural audience, advocating for broader recognition and targeting by general advertisers.

Additionally, he points out the educational gap within the industry regarding FAST:

"Even the term FAST, like you walk in the door of like any random agency and like half the people won't even know what that term means."
(22:07)

Fuse Media is committed to educating the marketplace and fostering healthy partnerships to enhance the effectiveness of reaching multicultural audiences.

Conclusion

The conversation concludes with Patrick Courtney expressing optimism about Fuse Media’s growth and strategic positioning in the evolving media landscape.

"We're pretty encouraged and we're going to keep building on what we've accomplished so far."
(16:39)

Mike Shields wraps up the episode by highlighting the depth of the discussion and the valuable insights shared by Courtney on effectively reaching multicultural audiences in a stream-first era.

Notable Quotes

• Patrick Courtney (01:24): "Fuse Media has built the industry’s most accurate, stable, and scalable identity solution... to recognize and reach your customers in a privacy-safe way and achieve unrivaled accuracy and reach."

• Patrick Courtney (04:56): "FAST is increasingly crowded... strong multi-content channel brands will have a really important place within FAST just as they have in traditional linear for decades."

• Lee Lewis (07:06): "Consumers are expecting a seamless experience across all channels... The only way to do that is to create an identity solution that understands who the person is."

• Patrick Courtney (14:26): "Culture Collective is a group of partnerships that we've established... to curate a differentiated supply of inventory that could be bought contextually across very premium programming."

Final Thoughts

This episode of Next in Media offers a rich exploration of the strategies and challenges in reaching multicultural audiences amidst the shift to streaming-first media consumption. Patrick Courtney’s insights into Fuse Media’s adaptive programming, programmatic advertising strategies, and commitment to inclusive entertainment provide a valuable roadmap for media professionals navigating this complex landscape.

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