YouTube phenomenon MrBeast has struck a deal with Amazon MGM Studios (AMZN) to bring his popular “Beast Games” content to the streaming platform. Quickplay Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer Paul Pastor joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the implications of this partnership for the evolving streaming landscape.
Pastor emphasizes that it is an “unbelievable time” to be a part of the media industry, given the tremendous amount of change underway. Drawing on his experience dating back to when cable was emerging, Pastor notes that streaming is now “the topic du jour.”
Regarding the MrBeast deal, Pastor explains that projects with “stars attached” to them in Hollywood tend to reduce risk and boost engagement, stressing that the Amazon-MrBeast collaboration is a “tried and true” model. However, he highlights that this deal also opens the door for other content creators on YouTube to “build out incredible franchises” beyond just the YouTube platform itself— which will benefit both the influencer class and the production companies involved.
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Video Transcript
JULIE HYMAN: YouTube superstar MrBeast is going to Amazon. The content creator recently striking a deal with Amazon MGM Studios for his first traditional streaming series. For more on what this means for the streaming landscape and maybe if this is a trend to come, we’re bringing in Paul Pastor. He’s Co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Quickplay.
And Paul, thank you so much for joining us. First of all, just to set the stage here. Talk to us about what Quickplay does and sort of your view on the streaming industry from where you sit.
PAUL PASTOR: Certainly, well, thank you so much for having me today. So Quickplay is an OTT or over-the-top television service provider. We support what we call tier one operators sports, sports holders, and media groups.
So what is a tier one operator means? It means somebody who has a very complex ecosystem that’s maybe managing legacy systems and legacy business models, as well as current and future ones with streaming. They happen to have really– they want control of their roadmap, and they want to make sure that they can respond to the various needs of their consumers.
And importantly, they have very big executives who often come in with a request or demand that are looking for new features, new innovations that lead the market. And they’re looking for platforms like ourselves to help them drive that change in their organization.
In terms of the industry, it’s an unbelievable time to be involved in the industry. We’re seeing a tremendous amount of change. I started in the industry when cable was being developed.
And then we had digital terrestrial television. That was in the process of transforming the industry. And now, most of the business models that I set up maybe 20 years ago have now folded as now streaming becomes the topic Du Jour.
But there’s a tremendous number of trends in the industry at this moment that I’m sure you’re seeing. First and foremost, obviously, there’s a tremendous amount of focus on cost at this moment where streamers are rationalizing their content investment, their marketing investment, and importantly, their technology investment.
Second, you’ve seen a tremendous amount of consolidation in industry where people are looking to aggregate in order to offer a better value proposition to consumers. And then fundamentally, there is the management and focus on profitability as they sunset many of their older businesses that were huge profit drivers and transform these into their new profit drivers.
JOSH LIPTON: And, Paul, this news, you know, of MrBeast and this deal with Prime Video, is that a trend we’re seeing Paul, these big names, these big influencers cutting these kind of high profile content deals?
PAUL PASTOR: Absolutely. Listen, this is a tried and true model. We always in Hollywood like to greenlight projects that have big stars attached because it reduces the risk. There’s built in equity with the consumer in terms of how to follow these stars.
So this is a very tried and true model. What Amazon has done and stealing the talent from YouTube or borrowing or leveraging the brand from YouTube into their program with a huge prize. They made a huge splash.
But let’s not forget that there’s other businesses that are out there that are fundamentally pursuing the very same thing, which is how to democratize content through YouTube like a pocket watch or a Moonbug that focus on the kids area, but then build out these incredible franchises that they then take to more traditional streaming or traditional media platforms.
Another one you sell was Morphy. For example, that was announced this year coming from YouTube from Moonbug that will now be available on Disney and Disney Plus. So this is most certainly a model that Hollywood is familiar with.
It presents a great opportunity, obviously, for influencers and those who build their brands in these more democratized platforms to be able to extend that IP, to extend their talents, and really grow what is basically a production company and franchise business through these other various platforms.
