Up for a symbolic coffee with our CEO Luc Voncken? In this personal chats, Luc talks about current affairs, what’s happening in the streaming industry and provides a more private insight into his life and goals.

HI LUC! FIRST OF ALL: WHAT DOES YOUR PERFECT COFFEE LOOK LIKE?

I like my coffee simple and bold: black!

DELICIOUS! WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER, BUT INSTEAD OF RESTING, THE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IS NOT TAKING A BREAK. WHAT HAS CAUGHT YOUR ATTENTION NEWS-WISE IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS?

The obvious end (or break?) of the pandemic-driven streaming boom is a big topic right now in the news and society. I find it interesting in which direction the current streaming business is developing and how the market leaders are behaving. A lot of big players seem to be experiencing difficulties on churn like cancellations of free trials or after having seen their favourite series, but also on multiple users on one account. Another one is rising subscription prices (in the end all players need to realize a profit), which leads to unsatisfied customers.

HOW DO YOU THINK THIS NEWS WILL INFLUENCE YOUR OWN BUSINESS?

I just can say that in my eyes, minimalizing the user experience by these means, is not the right way. At least not for Cliq. Our products are made for the people, for simple and uncomplicated entertainment, and approachable for everybody. Our cliq.de users are very welcome to share their account with multiple people within their family, to test around for 30 days, and the price for all 5 content categories will be EUR 6.99, not more, not less. It wouldn’t feel right to follow the industry trend in that case –Cliq means entertainment for everybody. And also, in general, the group CLIQ Digital AG is experiencing no back fall at all, quite the contrary: we are growing even stronger than expected. Check out our latest guidance and financial outlook information. Our market is the world, not only Europe and the US–so the growth opportunities are endless.

IS THERE ANOTHER WAY OF FIGHTING THE END OF THE PANDEMIC-DRIVEN STREAMING BOOM?

I think the most important thing is to understand what the mass market can afford and, in this context, constantly develop and optimise your affordable content portfolio. The easy access to a lot of content in one place (our multi-content offering) is our unique selling point, as it is highly appreciated by the mass market. Cliq started showing strong growth before the outbreak of the pandemic. Streaming is part of our lives and I’m sure that also an end to or break in the pandemic cannot change that. Other players in the market did benefit from the pandemic as they received a lot of organic traffic to their platforms due to their established brand names. This is not what we experienced as CLIQ has never been a brand name on its own and thus never had organic traffic. We had to market our products using direct marketing, which we will continue to do. Of course, the offer and market competition are huge, so only the most individual and consumer-oriented players can in the end succeed. I’m more than excited to accept this challenge and truly believe in our amazing platform cliq.de! Simple, bold, surprising.

THANKS, LUC! AND BECAUSE IT’S ALSO MORE THAN RELEVANT RIGHT NOW: DO YOU HAVE A TIP TO COOL DOWN DURING HOT SUMMER TEMPERATURES?

I also prefer it simple here. My piece of advice: look for a nice place in the shade, order your favourite drink and just relax!