The long-anticipated release of Sky’s subscription video on-demand (SVOD) service has been accompanied by a TVC that positions the offering as a form of escapism.
The 45-second spot was developed by Sky’s creative agency DDB, and features a series of scenes of lights turning off as the city goes to sleep.
Much like its predecessor Lightbox, Neon is currently offering a one-month free trial to subscribers. However, at $20 per month after this, Neon is currently priced higher than any of the other players in the market, with Lightbox charging $15 a month and Quickflix even less at $12.99.
This premium price point drew criticism from NZ Herald columnist Karl Puschmann, who said that the cost didn’t match up to what was being offered on the service.
“… the content’s good, but it’s old. And nobody pays a premium for old,” said Pushmann. “Worse, as Sky don’t want to cut their own lunch, Neon’s content is going to stay old. They’ve confirmed that, for example, the upcoming fifth season of Game of Thrones will not be available until months after its initial screening on Sky’s Soho channel … In this age of immediacy Neon champions delay and ain’t nobody got time for that.”
As seen with TVNZ’s ‘first and fast’ approach and Lightbox’s move to air Better Call Saul shortly after its US launch, the other players in the market see value in being first, and this is something that Kiwis increasingly expect of entertainment providers. After all, the internet is a big place, and with services like Slingshot’s global mode, viewers can get access to fresh entertainment without too much difficulty these days.
Speaking on global mode, Slingshot recently upgraded its service so that Kiwi Netflix users can switch between regions. This move has been made in anticipation of Netflix’s launch and allows users to switch regions between the US, UK and New Zealand to watch content from different Netflix catalogues.
” … because initially the Netflix New Zealand content is likely to be weaker than overseas catalogues, users will want to switch to alternative regions to get the content they want,” said Slingshot general manager Taryn Hamilton in a release. “That’s why we are implementing region-switching, which will allow our customers to watch a range of Netflix catalogues.”
Hamilton went on to predict that Netflix would likely come to dominate the market due to “its ease of use, lower price, and large international catalogue.”
