Stan (streaming service)

Stan (stylised as Stan.) is an Australian subscription over-the-top streaming service. It was launched on 26 January 2015. 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. 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.

Stan's original comedy No Activity became the first SVOD program ever nominated for a Logie Award at the 2016 ceremony.

Content
At launch, the first major programming announcement was the exclusive rights to the premiere season of Better Call Saul as well as the rights to Breaking Bad, which previously aired on Foxtel. It also held the rights to Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle.

The company has a content partnership deal with Sony Pictures, ABC, SBS and its World Movies subsidiary, Paramount Global, Amazon MGM Studios, BBC Worldwide, Showtime, CBS, Village Roadshow, and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. In December 2014, Stan signed non-exclusive agreements with ABC Commercial and Viacom, with the latter covering Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon programming.

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). 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).

On 13 December 2018, Stan reached a content agreement with Disney to carry films and television series. The agreement ended in late-2019 due to the launch of Disney+. 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. 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. 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.

Stan Original
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.

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.

On 1 May 2015, Stan announced its first commissioned series, a comedy titled No Activity; which premiered on 22 October 2015. Stan renewed No Activity on 15 December 2015 for a second season.

Series developed and aired by Stan are known as Stan Original series.

Acquired exclusives
The following is a list of acquired programs which have had their Australian premiere on Stan.• 11.22.63

• A to Z

• Acquitted

• Angie Tribeca (seasons 1–2)

• Animaniacs

• Ash vs. Evil Dead

• Better Call Saul (seasons 1–5)

• Billions

• Billy and Billie

• Billy the Kid

• Blunt Talk (seasons 1–2)

• The Bold Type

• The Bridge

• Community (season 6)

• Constantine

• Deutschland 83

• Dig

• Domina

• Electric Dreams

• Episodes (season five; 2017)

• Everything's Gonna Be Okay

• Eye Candy

• Flesh and Bone

• The Following (season 3)

• Gallipoli (episodes 2–7)

• The Great (season 1–3)

• Heathers (uncensored version)

• iZombie (seasons 1–2)

• Lost Girl (seasons 4–5 part two)

• Madagascar: A Little Wild

• Masters of Sex (season 4)

• Mozart in the Jungle (seasons 1–2)

• Normal People

• Power (seasons 1–2)

• Preacher

• Rise

• RuPaul's Drag Race

• Saved by the Bell (2020 series)

• Selfie

• Sherlock: "The Abominable Bride"

• Ten Pound Poms

• Transparent (seasons 1–2)

• Twin Peaks (limited series;  22 May 2017)

• Underground (24 January 2017)

• UnREAL

• Will & Grace (Season 9–11)

• Yellowstone

• YOLO: Crystal Fantasy

• Squidbillies (Seasons 10–13)

• Robot Chicken (Seasons 6–11)

• Birdgirl

Stan Sport
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.

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.

Stan and Nine also acquired rights to the French Open and Wimbledon tennis tournaments.

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.

Commentators
Rugby Union
 * Nick McArdle (Host – Internationals), 2021–present
 * Roz Kelly (Host – Internationals), 2021–present
 * Sean Maloney (Main Caller – Internationals), 2021–present
 * Andrew Swain (Secondary Caller – Internationals), 2021–present
 * Michael Chennel (Caller – Super W), 2021
 * Martin Lippiatt (Caller – Super W), 2021
 * Greg Clark (Caller – Super W), 2021
 * Tim Horan (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Drew Mitchell (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Andrew Mehrtens (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Allana Ferguson (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Morgan Turinui (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Justin Harrison (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * David Campese (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Michael Cheika (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Will Genia (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Sonny Bill Williams (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * James Horwill (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Heath Tessmann (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Sera Naiqama (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Dane Haylett-Petty (Expert Analysis), 2021–present
 * Gemma Etheridge (Expert Analysis, Sideline), 2021
 * Alicia Lucas (Expert Analysis, Sideline), 2021
 * Nick Stiles (Expert Analysis), 2021
 * Pat McCabe (Expert Analysis), 2021
 * Mollie Gray (Sideline), 2021
 * Mick Colliss (WA Sideline), 2021–present
 * Clint Stanaway (VIC Sideline), 2021–present
 * Paddy Sweeney (WA Sideline), 2021–present
 * Michael Atkinson (QLD Sideline), 2021–present
 * Jeff McTainsh (NZ Sideline), 2021–present

Tennis (French Open, Wimbledon)
 * Nick McArdle (Host), 2021–present
 * Roz Kelly (Host), 2021–present
 * Darren Parkinhost (Host), 2021–present
 * Clint Stanaway (Host), 2021–present
 * Todd Woodbridge (Host/Commentator), 2021–present
 * Brett Philips (Host/Commentator), 2021–present
 * Sam Groth (Commentator), 2021–present
 * Jelena Dokic (Commentator), 2021–present
 * Wally Masur, 2022–present
 * Chris Stubbs, 2022–present

Football (Champions League)
 * Roz Kelly (Host), 2021–present
 * Max Rushden (Host), 2021–present
 * Ed Kavalee (Host), 2021–present
 * Tom Steinfort (Fill-in host), 2022–present
 * Craig Foster (Commentator), 2021–present
 * Mark Bosnich (Commentator), 2021–present
 * Grace Gill (Commentator), 2021–present
 * Mark Pougatch (Sideline Commentator), 2021–present
 * Alicia Ferguson (Sideline Commentator), 2021–present
 * Jordan Jarrett-Bryan (Sideline Commentator). 2022–present

Stan Event
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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

One year after its launch, CEO Mike Sneesby announced that 1.5 million users had used the service across almost 700,000 subscriptions. In December 2016 Stan claimed to have 600,000 active subscribers. In November 2017 it was reported that the service had over 800,000 active subscribers and revenue topping $100 million a year.

Stan reached 1 million active subscribers in June 2018. By December 2019, the service had over 1.8 million subscribers.

As of August 2020, Stan passed the 2 million subscriber mark reaching 2.1 million subscribers in total.

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.

Hardware supported
The devices on this list are supported by Stan: Stan does not support jailbroken iOS devices.
 * Apple TV (since 13 May 2015)
 * Apple iPad Pro 12.9" and 9.7"
 * Apple iPad 2 and all later generations
 * Apple iPad Air and all later generations
 * Apple iPad Mini and all later generations
 * Android tablets and phones running Jelly Bean 4.2 or higher
 * Google Chromecast
 * Sony PlayStation 3 (since 8 October 2015)
 * Sony PlayStation 4 (since 8 October 2015)
 * Sony PlayStation 5 (since 12 November 2020)
 * Microsoft Xbox One (since 13 January 2016)
 * Microsoft Xbox Series X and Series S
 * Telstra TV (Since December 2015)

Software supported
Supported web browsers by platform:
 * macOS: Safari, Google Chrome, WebKit or Firefox
 * Windows: Safari, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Opera or Firefox
 * Linux: Google Chrome or Firefox
 * Apple iOS
 * Apple tvOS
 * Android