DID THAT HEADLINE get your attention? I can already hear irritated e-mails disputing that claim being tapped out in response, but bear with us for a few paragraphs.
“What!?” some of those running popular specialty video brands might be asking, “Isn’t Galaxie just that group of sleepy music channels which are a throw-in with everyone’s digital cable box?” Well, they may be a value-add which come automatically with most digital TV subscriptions, but some comprehensive recent measurement shows the suite of music channels (anywhere from 40 to 100, depending on the BDU) is anything but sleepy. This is popular content, but even the executives who run Galaxie’s parent, Stingray Digital, know their music service is not in the same category as a live hockey game on a sports channel, for example.
Stingray has been thoroughly measuring the listenership to their music channels for about 18 months using market intelligence firm Vision Critical as well as set top box data aggregated from more than 1.1 million Canadian IPTV customers of Telus, Bell, Bell Aliant, SaskTel and MTS – and the numbers are revealing a high level of listenership. For example:
* Nearly six million Canadians listen to Galaxie for an average of five hours per week, tied with TreehouseTV and well ahead of others.
* When it comes to the hours per week listened to, Galaxie channels pull in 28 million a week, far ahead of other specialties.
* Canadian customers are also streaming Galaxie online for about five hours a week each and on mobile, about three hours.
* Stingray has close to 80 million customers in over 70 countries using Galaxie, The Karaoke Channel and Concert TV, primarily. Boyko believes his company can get to 400 million customers in “three to five years.”
While acknowledging their music channels are distinctly different from all of the video specialty services available (no one is live-tweeting the “Remember the ’80s” channel like they would the NHL games on TSN, for example. People are often working or otherwise occupied while their Galaxie music plays. Heck, we’re listening to the Rock Anthem station on Galaxie’s mobile app as we write this), both Stingray president and CEO Eric Boyko and vice-president of sales Nic Savoie are unapologetic about what the numbers they have been reporting in meetings in the industry mean to them:
“We’re the number one specialty channel in Canada,” Boyko (right) said in a recent interview.
“We’re not going to get into a fight over measurement,” added Savoie. “Plus, we use data that’s a different source than the (video channels, who use BBM’s portable people meters), but the point we were trying to make is it’s an extensively used service. Whether you look in terms of reach or in terms of average listening time, we score really well on both fronts and when you put the two together, it does make us the most listened to channel in Canada, among specialties.
“But again, it’s passive listening. It’s not like watching a football game. So you can put it on, and then you can go off in the kitchen and do all kinds of stuff,” he explained.
But why measure at all in the first place? Galaxie sells no advertising, so the number of eardrums it reaches is not something it packages up to sell to Unilever or Proctor & Gamble. “The measurement’s good for us just because we want to ensure we’ve got great programming out there and it’s listened to. Then, we can tweak it if certain channels aren’t as popular and switch them out for others,” added Savoie (left).
For example, the company launched a Hindi music channel earlier this year and it quickly became one of the top 12 channels in terms of listenership, leading the company to quickly boost that type of content.
As well, the lineup one BDU receives, no matter where they are in the world, can be customized based on region. “So the lineup we have in Halifax can be different than the one that’s in Vancouver,” he continued. “With servers directly in the headends of the operators, we can tailor-make the channel lineup… again, the measurement ties back into that because it tells us in this region, these are the channels that are most popular… In that other region, these are the other channels.”
“So, Rogers’ lineup is different than Telus,” says Boyko.
Stingray’s new push is not unlike other specialty and pay channels – authenticated TV Everywhere. Certain pay TV customers can listen online and – if their BDU has signed up, which few have in Canada – on mobile.
At last check, the Galaxie music app (pictured) offers iPhone and Android users who are also subscription TV customers 111 channels of various genres and languages on-the-go. So far, just Telus, Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct customers can access Galaxie’s mobile music, but for Boyko and Savoie, it should be an easier sell to BDU customers than it has been. “If, as an operator, you take advantage of our 100-channel lineup and you go on mobile, you can effectively replace XM Sirius, save $15 a month on your subscribers for something that’s basically built in the cable bill,” said Boyko.
And with Bluetooth connectivity in every phone, Galaxie can be in-car entertainment, too.
As well, this is authenticated content that people can listen to anywhere –without getting into trouble. “Because it’s music, unlike video, it’s very complementary… you’re not supposed to watch TV when you’re at work, right? In our case, it’s fine that you listen to music when you’re at work,” said Savoie. It makes the cable/satellite/telcoTV product that much, as they say, stickier.
Music though, has become quite commoditized, it is pointed out, with competitors like Songza and Rdio already popular (and free) on the smartphones of Canadians. How can Galaxie compete with that? Depth, says Boyko.
“If you look at Songza, they only have 80 songs per channel… we have anywhere from 800 to 1,500 songs per channel,” explains the CEO – and with over 100 channels, there is lots for many tastes and demographics.
“It’s very balanced,” said Savoie. “The whole idea with Galaxie is we’re designing a way to cater to all tastes… There’s something in it for everyone.”
