of many households. This has seen a change in opinion regarding smaller and niche streaming services.
In 2021, when the economy was growing and inflation was low, companies including Starz and AMC would frequently champion their niche streaming strategies. The theory was that these services didn’t compete with broad services Netflix or Prime Video but instead offered corresponding content not available on the SVOD giants.
Yet these services are ones that will see growth slow as money becomes tighter and households are more likely to opt for broad options that can entertain everyone. Even the likes of Discovery+ have found that growth is not as easy to come by in the era of big streaming, with the service adding 1 million-2 million global subscribers each quarter, likely a big factor behind its merger with HBO Max in 2023.
Long term, the merging of Showtime into Paramount+ will create one of two possible ripple effects. More services will seek to be bundled together in a re-creation of cable TV. Another is that cable TV itself becomes the grand amalgamator of content, offering subscribers access to streaming services run by TV networks. has previously noted
how streaming strategies led to a reduction in originals on TV as resources were moved to streaming, weakening the long-range value proposition of TV. How ironic it would be for the same streaming services to ultimately be bundled back into pay TV subscriptions.
MichelArouca
It'd be cool if they made it available in Puerto Rico without having to use a VPN 🙄