• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, June 13, 2023

Several independent ad-supported streaming services have formed an alliance to ensure a voice and parity in standards and practices as the business evolves.

Members of the new Independent Streaming Alliance (ISA) include Allen Media Group, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Cineverse, Future Today, kweliTV, Revry, Scripps, Tastemade, TMB (Trusted Media Brands) and Vevo.

Together, the founding companies have more than 2,200 independent streaming touchpoints that generate more than half a billion hours of watch time per month globally, according to the organization.

But increasingly, they are competing in the ad-supported streaming sector with giants including Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount. Yesterday, Amazon's FAST, Freevee, announced that it was adding channels based on a deal to use WBD series content.

“The formation of the ISA is long overdue,” said Philippe Guelton, chief revenue officer at Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. “We are joining forces to promote the value of independent streamers, and to work hand-in-hand with platforms, advertisers and regulatory bodies to ensure that we have a healthy ecosystem that benefits everyone, not just the few.”

“We believe that we can play an important role in helping our peers and partners solve some of the important challenges around content discovery, data privacy and demand transparency, while also ensuring that independent programming does not get left out of the equation,” added Cameron Saless, Chief Business Officer at TMB.

In addition to representing independent players, the alliance says it will seek to highlight and represent minority-owned businesses such as Allen Media Group, Future Today, and kweliTV, and advocate for more diverse programming and “a more equitable playing field industrywide.”

“The FAST space has been an exciting and important outlet for diverse and underrepresented communities over the past few years,” said Damian Pelliccione, co-founder and CEO at Revry. “The ISA is the industry support required for a global LGBTQ-first streaming media network like ours to continue to provide free, ad-supported TV for many years to come.”

The ISA has formed measurement, distribution and demand working groups.

The measurement group will work to help establish the overall reach of alliance members and collective value for platforms and brand marketers, including working with 3P measurement providers, aggregating viewership, and jointly promoting the value of members’ platforms to consumers and brands.

The ISA has tapped iSpot.tv as an audience and ad measurement partner to help quantify the total unique reach of members and prepare for potentially using iSpot’s streaming and cross-platform measurement capabilities as a currency.

The distribution group is focused on developing and sharing best practices for growing audiences and working directly with platforms to ensure that there are fair business practices for all players.

The demand group will work with SSP’s, DSP’s, brands and agencies to ensure that members’ advertising can be purchased and sold seamlessly in compliance with industry norms, whether through direct insertion orders or programmatic buying platforms.