On today’s episode, we’re spanning from PLG to TV—an era of product-led growth and a streaming service overload.

And The Good Place... How can this NBC original teach us a ton about content marketing?

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A streaming service OVERLOAD

We are facing a streaming service overload—and Amdocs Media has the findings and the repercussions. 

So much to watch, so many places to watch. Apparently, 27% of people now pay more than $100 per month in subscriptions, as much as the average person would spend on cable—although I can’t say I’m surprised by this number.

I’ve been overwhelmed by streaming even before the official “wars” began—with Apple, Disney+, Netflix, and the clan in the news every other day it feels like. And Amdocs conducted a survey to find, with more than 100 streaming services available, many watchers are feeling the same.

It reports that 59% of those surveyed said they were happy with their preexisting subscription situation, which means it could be difficult to get them to spend more. That's bad news for both, those established players looking to raise rates and the new services aiming to get consumers to try them. 

I may not be the best data point here—far from an avid TV watcher, although not quite yet a cord cutter—but I figured it must come down to two sweet spots: content and price point.

But the survey recorded the top responses as follows:

• • Price point (37%)

  • More content (22%)

  • Customer service (9%).

  • Personalized content (8%)

  • Fewer ads (7%)

  • Peer recommendations (6%)

If you’re tuning into the streaming wars on the regular, connect with us and we’ll talk TV. Send me a note at abby@recurnow.com, because we want to know why you stream (or why you don't), what keeps you coming back, and what would entice you to step out from your current streaming regimen and hop on another bandwagon. Who will win this battle of bingeing?

Content marketers, welcome to the Good Place

Jay Acunzo from Marketing Showrunners is on our radar again, sharing how binge-worthy content leads to relationship building. 

It’s detailed in his latest piece: What Marketers Can Learn from How NBC Promotes Hit Shows, in which he uses The Good Place on NBC as an example case. 

We’re not only digging this piece only because The Good Place with Kristen Bell and Ted Danson is undeniably great, but because this article by Jay highlights something super important: How NBC gets mileage out of its content, a return on its investments, and most critically, a passionate audience that adores its shows—by creating, what he calls "1 bajillion content" to promote and grow just one show—something he wishes he could inject in the brains of every marketer on planet earth right now.

He points to a tweet by our friend Chris Savage of Wistia, who highlighted this NBC initiative at the Change the Channel event they hosted earlier this month. 

He knows, “No one out there is better at this than media companies.” And in considering the backdrop of our content marketing world today, we’re amid rapid-fire creation of it. (Think: 30 blog posts published per second, fast.) 

If interested in more here, Jay breaks down how NBC does this—so you can stop chasing impressions, and start doing things that actually impress. 

Deep dive

Product-led means power

I recently connected with Despina Exadaktylou, Founder of ReinventGrowth—a consulting agency focused on helping SaaS companies implement and scale a product-led go-to-market plan—and she reminded me of the power of being product-led.

First off, tell me about Reinvent Growth.

"Sure. We are a consulting agency on product-led growth go-to-market strategies and onboarding— because we truly believe that these two are so intrinsically connected with each other, especially now that product data is a thing and product analytics is part of everyday workload for more customer-facing teams and, of course, project management. We help teams optimize and scale their go-to-market and onboarding strategies."

Despina authored The State of Product-Led Experience: Insights & Data Derived from the Practices of 40+ Product-Led Organizations, which is packed with product-led growth research with data and insights from 40+ leading SaaS organizations (like our friends over at HubSpot, Intercom, Drift, and Wistia) to match. 

As we’ve said before, we know product-led growth has been used by some of the most successful SaaS companies for years, but it’s only in recent months that the wider community has taken full notice of it. 

Do you agree with that statement?
If yes, why do you think this is so?

"It is for sure a talent for the community. It is for sure a new concept. Organizations are between two roads, doing things that weren't done until now, until very recently... It's going to take a while. I have some organizations going toward product-led, or at least trying to make the transformation. The more general departments you have, the worse—because you have to sync so many people under one common language and it's very difficult to grow as you do that."

She encourages those looking to begin a product-led initiative to utilize The State of Product-Led Experience in doing so.

 What’s your advice for product marketers moving forward?

"Not to be afraid of the transition because eventually the products that are going to survive are those that capitalize on their own superpowers. And trying—even though the transition to a product-led go-to-market model may not be something done overnight—try to capitalize as much as possible on product experience, which is also a very new concept. And see how they can shift the mindset of the end user and the buyer toward a more modern way of buying and trying a SaaS product."

Name Your Price

Name Your Price is a game during which players are prompted with questions of monetary value — reminiscent of childhood discussion, but with prompts both bigger & bolder. Today, I’m joined by Pricing Strategists Gina Eygenson and Ian Black, Sr. Finance and Accounting Manager Andrew Gierer, and Product Manager Neel Desai, who answer how much I'd have to pay them to move cross country for work.

That is a wrap for your October 17 subscription news. Send your teammates to profitwell.com/recur/recurnow to sign up for episodes on the daily.

If you have news to share, send me what's going down—from product launches and updates to strong input on a story we've covered—to abby@recurnow.com and let's collaborate. We want to feature you, our neighbors in the space.PO