Former Disney and Discovery executives have established new streaming technology venture, backed by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
Struum is the idea of founders Lauren DeVillier, former Head of Product for Discovery Ventures, Eugene Liew, former Vice President of Product and Technology at Disney+, Paul Pastor, former Executive Vice President of Strategy, Revenue and Operations at Discovery Networks and Thomas Wadsworth, former lead Advanced Product Development for Walt Disney Imagineering, the service.
The premise is to create a simpler was for people to navigate their way through the increasingly cluttered SVOD landscape.
“Our mission is simple: to create the easiest way for people to find more of the content they love by providing value through a single subscription,” said company CEO Lauren DeVillier. “As the OTT space continues to expand, there is an incredible amount of amazing video content options for TV and Movie streaming fans, but it can be overwhelming and expensive for the average viewer to delve into these options outside the biggest players in the market. With our platform, we will help viewers uncover new content and platforms, but also provide all SVOD services with the opportunity to be more easily, and frequently discovered by fans.”
In the United States, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, YouTube, HBO Max and Disney+ hold close to 75% of the streaming video distribution, according to a recent Nielsen report.
Struum has already struck deals with nearly three dozen services—amassing more than 20,000 TV series, movies and shorts, that will enable the service to offer consumers a chance to discover and watch a hugely diverse range of programs from feature films, live action TV series, lifestyle and reality shows, programs serving underserved audiences such as the LGBTQ and Latinx communities, and foreign language shows and series. More details of the venture, launch date, and its specific SVOD partner services will be unveiled in the coming months.
Michael Eisner, Founder of The Tornante Company, said, “With so much proliferation in the niche and specialty streaming landscape, there is a clear need for a resource that helps them seamlessly discover and consume content from these services. This is truly a first-class team that is leveraging their wide breadth of experiences and relationships to create a solution unmatched by anything else currently available that will benefit both viewers and streaming services.”
Also on board, is Nancy Tellem, former President of CBS Entertainment and Xbox Entertainment, Ben Pyne, former President of Disney/ABC Television Distribution, and Donald Hicks, who heads global operations at Twitter.
