Inside Joyn, the German streamer

Thomas Münzner, Director Content Acquisition & Original Production, Joyn, explained: ‘We have built a premium platform, consistently expanded it and are now a well-known brand in the German streaming market. With over ten million app downloads and up to 3.9 million monthly unique users after only one year, we are absolutely on track. With 60 free-TV stations in live stream and as a media library, Joyn bundles the content of the free-TV stations of ProSiebenSat.1 and Discovery as well as 15 other content partners on one platform and one app’.

‘Users can play content free of charge and without registration on iOS and Android devices as well as on the web and via smart TVs. The goal is to create a comprehensive German OTT platform of cross-channel content. An important step was the launch of PLUS+ by the end of 2019. The premium offer includes additional live TV channels in HD plus Pay TV channels, originals and exclusive content as well as the latest films and series. Additional features and content will be added continuously, including exclusive sports content’.

Frau Jordan stellt gleich (© Joyn/Julian Essink)

For Joyn it's important to have a mix of local Original and acquired content, said Münzner. ‘Today the access to global stories is omnipresent. At the same time, there is a growing need to refer to content that conveys a sense of belonging. With our local Originals we aim high: We want to lead discussions, address new topics, discover new talents and be different in many ways. But we also bring new exclusive and on-demand content to our platform so that more content can be seen - always with our community in mind, what they would like to see at Joyn. We will continuously add new partners to our platform to offer an even greater variety of content’, he completed.

Regarding the audience, he remarked: ‘In the beginning, especially jerks. was an absolute driving force. Little by little our users discovered our originals such as Frau Jordan stellt gleich, Check Check or M.O.M. Also classics like Grey's Anatomy, which are always in demand, as well as exclusive like the Dutch answer to 4 Blocks, Mocro Maffia that were also very well received by our users. Season 2 will be released later this year. In general it helps us to listen to the voices and recommendations of our Joyn community and to take them into account when buying or developing content’.

In Germany, there are ‘good streaming services’, according to the executive. ‘But our focus is on ourselves and our users. We want to create the #1 platform where people can find their favorite tv shows, series and movies - all combined in one place, easy and convenient to use. This combination of content offering with originals, free TV channels and catch ups libraries plus a tailored premium offering with more originals, HD and pay TV channels, acquired movies and series is unique and outstanding in the German market’.

Jerks (© Joyn/Anatol Kotte)

Joyn invites users to give us feedback and join the “Joyn Community”. Münzner added: ‘We want to create a user-friendly product with a pleasant viewer experience. To achieve this, we are still in constant exchange with our community and corresponding feedback flows continuously into the further development of the app. Thus we were able to implement the first user feedback in September 2019 and made Joyn available on Google Chromecast. New features such as personalized recommendations or original language, which our users have requested, will follow in the course of the year’.

‘Already during the content acquisition or development phase, we keep an eye out for potential partners. For example, we were able to win rbb as a partner for MAPA. With Blackout we are producing a six-part high-end series in cooperation with W&B Television and SAT.1, based on Marc Elsberg's million-dollar bestseller of the same name. Moritz Bleibtreu has been signed on as the leading actor for the thriller series. Shooting will start in early autumn 2020. But besides content coproduction, we also have plans for expansion: the launch of Joyn Austria is in the starting blocks’, concludes Münzner.

Aus dem Tagebuch eines Uber-Fahrers (© Joyn/Christoph Köstlin)