Lifestyle programming juggernaut Discovery Inc. will roll out its own streaming service, Discovery+, in just one month—on Jan. 4—in an effort to capitalize on shifting consumer habits and go after direct-to-consumer subscription dollars that are fast becoming the backbone of the television media industry’s newest era.
The streamer will debut in the U.S. at two price points, an ad-supported tier for $4.99 a month, and an ad-free tier that will cost $6.99 a month. Both tiers offer up to five user profiles and four concurrent streams. Internationally, the prices will vary depending on market dynamics. Some markets will include a few free, ad-suppored tiers; others will only include a single ad-free tier, with several other variations.
The varying price points are designed to offer up consumer choice like Disney-owned streamer Hulu and ViacomCBS-owned CBS All Access (soon to be renamed to Paramount+), and it also broadens the possibility for Discovery+ to tap into advertising revenue in the U.S.
Five advertisers, including Lowe’s, PepsiCo, Toyota, Boston Beer Co. and KraftHeinz, have all signed on as inaugural advertising partners for that “ad-light” tier, which will be incorporated into the company’s new unified ad offering, OneGraph. More advertising partners will be announced in the coming weeks.
Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels told investors that the “ad-light” product will include five minutes of ads per hour, and that the platform will offer the binge ad and pause ad formats that are also available on streaming rivals like Hulu and Peacock.
Discovery+ is also debuting globally in 25 countries, and has already rolled out in the U.K., Ireland and India. It’s a contrast from many other media companies’ market-by-market rollout, and price points and tiers will vary depending on the territory. In its presentation for investors on Wednesday, Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav said that immediate global availability will give the service a “running start” that will help it scale fast.
“I believe that Discovery+ will be a compelling and powerful offering that’s attractive to everyone in the family all over the world, and will be a huge global success,” Zaslav said.
Out of the gate in early January, Discovery+ will have more than 55,000 episodes and 2,500 current and library shows across Discovery’s portfolio of unscripted programming, including library series from Animal Planet, BBC, Discovery Channel, Food Network, History Channel, HGTV, Lifetime and TLC. Some A+E Networks content will also stream its programming on the new service.
Like Disney+ and ViacomCBS’ soon-to-debut Paramount+, the streamer will serve as a house of brands, where those discrete linear brands will exist under one all-encompassing umbrella that aims to offer programming options that are attractive to viewers of all stripes.
As part of Discovery+’s efforts to attract immediate interest, the service will be flush with original programming when it debuts. The streaming service will debut with 50 original unscripted programs, Zaslav said, including from some of the hosts and stars from Discovery’s linear brands.
Some of the series will include a cooking show from lifestyle star couple Chip and Joanna Gaines, whose Magnolia Network on Discovery’s linear side is still on hold due to pandemic, as well as a new original unscripted series from comedian Kevin Hart, chefs Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentiis, Dirty Jobs’ Mike Rowe and environmentalist Sir David Attenborough. 90 Day Fiancé, Adweek’s Hottest TV Franchise of 2020, will also be expanded on Discovery+ with new originals.
By the end of Discovery+’s first year, the service will release more than 1,000 hours of original programming, Zaslav said.
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