Stan (stylised as Stan.) is an Australian subscription over-the-topstreaming service. It was launched on 26 January 2015.[3] Stan originally was founded as StreamCo Media, a 50/50 joint venture between Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media. In August 2014, each company invested A$50 million in StreamCo.[4] StreamCo was renamed Stan Entertainment in December 2014, prior to the January 2015 launch of the streaming service. Nine Entertainment acquired Fairfax Media in 2018, making Stan a wholly owned subsidiary of Nine Digital.
The service offers a broad range of film and television content from both local and foreign productions, particularly from the United States and United Kingdom. Stan also includes a growing library of their own original film and television content. With over 2.6 million subscribers, as of June 2023 Stan is the fourth largest streaming service in Australia, behind Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.[5]
In August 2015, Stan signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution, bringing several new U.S. series to the platform, including Australian premiere series A to Z and Selfie, as well as the third season of The Following (the first two seasons aired on the Nine Network).[16] In 2016, Stan reached an exclusive multi-year deal with CBS Corporation, which included exclusive rights to Showtime original programs (before the launch of Paramount+ in August 2021).[17]
On 13 December 2018, Stan reached a content agreement with Disney to carry films and television series.[18] The agreement ended in late-2019 due to the launch of Disney+.[19][20] On 20 August 2019, Stan reached an agreement with Paramount Pictures, carrying some of its films, and series such as The Great and Looking for Alaska.[21] In August 2020, Stan reached a multi-year agreement with NBCUniversal for rights to content from Sky Studios and its U.S. streaming service Peacock.[22] Eventually, the Foxtel Group made a deal with NBC Universal in 2022 to be the home of newer Peacock shows, following the expiration of NBC Universal's deal with Stan.[23]
Stan commissioned its parent company, the Nine Network, to produce original Australian drama series exclusive to the service and approached ABC and SBS on the possibility of co-producing shows and films.[24]
On 16 February 2015, Stan announced it was developing two original series: a Wolf Creek series, and a political drama based on the life of High Court judge Lionel Murphy titled Enemies of the State, with additional productions to be announced in the coming months.[25]
On 1 May 2015, Stan announced its first commissioned series, a comedy titled No Activity;[26] which premiered on 22 October 2015.[27] Stan renewed No Activity on 15 December 2015 for a second season.[28]
Series developed and aired by Stan are known as Stan Original series.[29]
Acquired exclusives
The following is a list of acquired programs which have had their Australian premiere on Stan.
In November 2020, Stan began to acquire sports rights in association with Nine's Wide World of Sports. These events are carried in a new add-on subscription known as Stan Sport, while the Nine Network holds free-to-air rights to portions of these packages.[66][67]
In 2021, Stan and Nine began a three-year contract with Rugby Australia to air rugby union on the Nine Network and Stan. Ending a long-standing agreement with Fox Sports and Network 10, Stan holds the pay television rights, streaming all Super Rugby and Super W matches live and ad-free, as well as coverage of inbound tests involving Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, and South Africa, club matches, The Rugby Championship, the Bledisloe Cup, and the Shute Shield, among others.[67][68]
In June 2021, Stan announced the acquisition of the rights to UEFA club competitions, including the UEFA Champions League beginning in August 2021. In the same announcement it was also revealed that the Australian Open would be broadcast on the platform.[69]
Stan Event is a add-on pay-per-view proposition for boxing events.
Marketing and subscription numbers
At launch, Australian actress Rebel Wilson promoted the service.[73]
Parent company Fairfax Media claimed they were approaching 100,000 customers by March 2015, however, many of these customers were on a 30-day trial period.[74] In May 2015, Fairfax announced the service was nearing 200,000 subscribers and had a target of 300,000 to 400,000 by the year's end.[75]
In May 2015, Roy Morgan Research found that Netflix had 1.039 million Australian users, compared to 97,000 for former competitor Presto and 91,000 for Stan.[76] In October 2015, Nine Entertainment claimed that Stan had between 150,000 and 200,000 paying subscribers, which they said was ahead of Presto's estimated 100,000 customers.[77]
One year after its launch, CEO Mike Sneesby announced that 1.5 million users had used the service across almost 700,000 subscriptions.[17] In December 2016 Stan claimed to have 600,000 active subscribers.[78] In November 2017 it was reported that the service had over 800,000 active subscribers and revenue topping $100 million a year.[79]
Stan reached 1 million active subscribers in June 2018.[80] By December 2019, the service had over 1.8 million subscribers.[81]
As of August 2020, Stan passed the 2 million subscriber mark reaching 2.1 million subscribers in total.[82]
As of May 2021, Stan passed 2.3 million active subscribers and more than 4 million people that had entered their credit card details on the platform. Stan gained nearly 150,000 sport subscribers since it began broadcasting rugby union matches earlier this year.[83]
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Supported devices
Hardware supported
The devices on this list are supported by Stan:[86]
