Broadcaster Sinclair recently sold its ad-supported free streaming TV (FAST) service We mix to Thinking Media, a startup providing cloud-based streaming solutions for FAST and over-the-top (OTT) services. The new owners have ambitious plans for the streamer, including an international expansion, tripling its library of on-demand content and becoming a native AI streamer with advanced search capabilities.
News about cord cutters broke the news of the deal, which officially closed two weeks ago. The acquisition comes amid a surge in FAST (ad-supported free streaming) viewership among users looking to save money as more premium streamers raise their subscription prices. According to Samba TV, one in three US users signed up for FAST services in 2023.
When Sinclair launched STIRR in 2019, the service had over 100 free, live, ad-supported TV channels and more than 5,000 hours of TV shows and movies. As of this writing, the live channels have been removed from the streaming platform, but on-demand content is still available.
STIRR is acquiring three times the amount of on-demand content in the coming months, Thinking Media founders Todd Carter (CEO) and Scott Schlichter (president) told TechCrunch.
“The one thing we didn’t bring for a variety of reasons is the local stations that Sinclair picked up from their station group,” said Schlichter, who is the founder of digital talent and branding company Dogma Studios. “But we’re very interested in local, we’re very interested in news. . . We are actively investigating this and trying to get it back up. From a linear perspective, you’re going to see very familiar content with what came before.”
The company is currently renegotiating many of its previous content licensing deals, so by the end of March, viewers will start to see many titles return to STIRR, as well as brand new content.
Image Credits: We mix
STIRR is adding more niche categories in order to target a wider audience. By June, STIRR will add categories such as travel and exploration, fitness and wellness, cooking, automotive, technology and innovation, fashion, home improvement and DIY, education, gaming and news and opinion, among others. STIRR’s catalog is relatively bare right now, and includes only a few genres such as adventure, comedy, documentary, drama, horror, mystery, sports and children’s content.
“If you think about the television market today, it tends to be one size fits all and they tend to target a small number of very large, general audiences. We’re interested in a very large number of smaller specialist intent-oriented audiences,” said Carter, who previously co-founded technology and media company SEEEN.
Thinking Media is also working to acquire international rights to support its development plans. For the first and second quarters of 2024, STIRR is set to expand to the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. It will also release Spanish-language content and programming in LatAm regions.
STIRR is currently available on web, Apple TV, iOS and Android devices worldwide. It will soon roll out to other smart TV platforms such as Tizen, Amazon Fire and Roku once the porting of those app store accounts from Sinclair Broadcast Group to Thinking Media is complete, the company said.
“[STIRR has] 8.5 to 10 million installs across all major platforms. We want to embrace that and make sure you realize that this is still home and we’re going to bring you the content you want and add to it and provide new features that we think you’re going to enjoy,” Schlichter added.
Image Credits: Screenshot of STIRR.com
In addition to content, Thinking Media also plans to integrate its proprietary features into the platform, starting with “Key Video Moments,” which addresses second-screen behavior by turning mobile phones into a companion device. Specifically, bringing search engine results to STIRR.
“We’re talking about timing. having your cell phone and your TV in sync while you’re watching,” Schlichter said, using the popular competition show “Hell’s Kitchen” as an example. By offering a web user experience on STIRR, viewers could simultaneously search for a recipe while watching their favorite chef.
“If you’re a fan of a show and you want to somehow get more involved with that show, there’s no way to do that on any existing platform. . . you have access to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Discord or Reddit, but no [the streaming service]. And that’s where this idea of unifying the TV web and user journeys comes in,” Carter said.
“Key Video Moments” is also partly a social feature, Carter added. Viewers can share their findings on social media and messaging platforms.
STIRR’s user interface is simpler than FAST competitors, so introducing innovative features will give the service a new lease of life.
“There’s this incredible opportunity to think of STIRR as a laboratory for web television innovation. . . to build on what Sinclair Broadcast Group has built and take it to the next step,” Carter added.
Thinking Media has already made other technological improvements to STIRR’s platform, including replacing the video player with a new “interactive” one that streams HLS (HTTP live streaming) and ultra-low latency, geared for a “synchronized audience,” he explained Carter. There’s also WebRTC support, which leads us to believe that STIRR will eventually have a live chat feature.
In addition, the company has changed the entire backend, which is now based on a content data graph, similar to Google Knowledge Graphas it aggregates data from various sources.
