👉Background: Stan launched in January 2015 originally as a joint venture between Nine and Fairfax Media. But Nine bought Fairfax in 2018, so now Stan is 100% owned by Nine.

👉 What happened: Last week, there was speculation that Nine was looking at a partial sale of Stan. But, while Nine has denied that Stan is for sale, it did say Stan it is very open to a strategic partnership with international content companies.

👉 What else: It seems like Stan is going to need to get creative and pull some sort of rabbit out of its hat if it is to continue growing because it’s definitely hit a new stage in the industry life cycle.

What's the key learning?

💡The industry life cycle refers to the evolution of an industry or business through four main stages:

1. The introduction phase: where innovators create new businesses and it is still a bit rough around the edges
2. The growth phase: where consumers start to understand the value of the industry or business and demand grows rapidly
3. The maturity phase: where growth slows and consolidation occurs
4. The decline phase: where the industry hits a standstill and consumers start moving on

💡The streaming industry is very much in its maturity phase, so experts believe streaming platforms may be forced to combine in order to survive.

💡So far, Stan has been mainly been a content aggregator… but by investing more in original shows, it is looking to become more of a content producer.

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