Streaming push for businesses 'largely untapped': Loop Media CEO

Jon Niermann, Loop Media CEO & Co-Founder, talks about bringing out-of-home streaming and branded content to businesses.

Video transcript

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- We have seen competition heating up in this streaming space at home, but what about streaming for businesses? Our next guest has been the leader in the out-of-home streaming space offering a platform that curates music videos as well as branded content for businesses. And for more on that business, let's bring in Jon Niermann.

He's Loop Media CEO and co-founder. Jon, this is a really fascinating business model. We're so focused on what we view at home here but you've always got some of those videos at nail salons, restaurants, running in the background. Talk to me about the kind of growth that you've seen in this space and how Loop media is different from some of your competitors.

JON NIERMANN: Well, we were very excited about this space. We consider it largely untapped because there's been so much focus on direct to consumer, which is right but the businesses really haven't seen that push into streaming, so you have to have the right content.

We've seen a lot of growth over the past year, as everybody started to open up again, but think about the type of content you want when you're out. You want sports, you want music primarily, a lot of the other stuff doesn't work that well. So what we try to do at Loop is bring that perfect curation of content that works visually as you're sitting there enjoying your burger and beer or whatever else you're doing.

- Yeah. And so, I mean, talk to me about the business prospects, there are two. We were discussing in the break kind of the ad support model, a hybrid kind of piece of this, as we've seen in a lot of streaming companies lean into that. How does it all work for those businesses as they put your content up?

JON NIERMANN: Well, here's the great thing about it. When we go out and we really focus on an ad supported offering, which is free. So especially if you're coming out of COVID and you're trying to focus on the bottom line, you don't need a lot of extra costs when it comes to entertainment, they get entertainment and that vibe is super important.

So, we've moved away from the giant AV rack, if you had the big bulky computer and you can get your own handy dandy little loop player here, that fits right behind the TV, so we're trying to make it as easy as possible.

No cost, personalized content that you could put together to fit your mood. If you're a Bollywood restaurant, you want Bollywood videos along with drone footage of India, you can do that. So, that's what we're really trying to do is ease of use, plug and play, five minutes, you're good to go.

- I know you work closely, not just with retail but hotels, bars, and restaurants. I'm wondering what you're hearing from some of your clients as more and more cities and states sort of open up a little more beyond what has been during the pandemic. What are you finding or what are you hearing about how quickly business has returned and what kind of opportunities does that create for your business?

JON NIERMANN: Businesses are coming back, they're coming back strong. As small as a single nail salon, dry cleaner, pub, up to universities, which we also provide content for. So, they are reopening, clearly people are cautious, yet it's even more important to have something engaging because people are kind of sick of being cooped up at home, they want to go out, they want to have fun.

There's nothing worse, and we always use this as example, there's nothing worse than you're sitting in a bar and restaurant, you're just being stared at by Judge Judy on the screen. It looked like you're being scolded for 23 minutes, it's no fun. So if you have music videos, you have that fun environment, that's really important. And, again, businesses don't want to worry about the cost but they do want those screens properly utilized to make that environment a lot better.

- Yeah, and I'm not sure Judge Judy's the proper aesthetic that a lot of businesses out there are going for, but who knows. Jon Niermann, Loop Media CEO and co-founder. I appreciate you coming on here to chat with us, very interesting option for those interested in that.