WSJ: Disney+, HBO Max, Other Streamers Struggle to Keep Subscribers

This doesn’t surprise me, but I wonder if it’s a huge problem for those services that have lots of high-quality content. Even temporary (paid) subscriptions have to be a reasonable business model.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Streaming-video services get a surge of subscribers when they launch a hotly anticipated show or movie. But many of these new customers unsubscribe within a few months, according to new data, a challenge even for the industry’s deep-pocketed giants.

The data, which subscriber-measurement company Antenna provided to The Wall Street Journal, illustrate the extent to which the streaming wars require all players to consistently churn out popular and often expensive programming to keep fickle subscribers satisfied.

“You constantly need new content,” said Michael Nathanson, an analyst for MoffettNathanson. Streaming services not only have to build vast libraries of old shows and movies, he said, they also “need a couple big, nice theatrical movies every quarter to make it feel like it’s really valuable.”

Major releases have been a reliable driver of streaming subscriptions, particularly for newer services. Walt Disney Co. ’s Disney+, for instance, won far more new U.S. subscribers when the musical “Hamilton” came out than any other day since early 2020, when the service was still getting off the ground. AT&T Inc.’s HBO Max saw a jump in U.S. sign-ups when “Wonder Woman 1984” was released on Christmas Day 2020, according to Antenna data. So did Apple Inc.’s Apple TV+ on the day “Greyhound,” a World War II movie starring Tom Hanks, came out in July 2020.

Many of them don’t stick around very long. Roughly half of U.S. viewers who signed up within three days of the release of “Hamilton,” “Wonder Woman 1984” and “Greyhound” were gone within six months, Antenna data show.

(I suspect “Wonder Woman 1984” did more to drive away subscribers than keep them, but whatever. Terrible movie.)

Conversation 8 comments

  • yoshi

    Premium Member
    01 February, 2022 - 3:28 pm

    <p>I almost canceled my HBO Max subscription about 27 minutes into Wonder Woman 1984.</p>

  • shark47

    01 February, 2022 - 9:16 pm

    <p>Disney is milking its IP’s with Star Wars and Marvel TV series. I watched Mandalorian and Loki, but not the rest. I wonder at what point people will get tired of those. HBO Max is trying to do the same with DC. I’m surprised they got the boost that they did with WW84. I also figured they’d get a bigger lift from ZSJL and Godzilla. </p>

    • bkkcanuck

      02 February, 2022 - 1:08 am

      <p>Movies make a splash, but what they need to maintain subscribers is having maybe 4 or 5 serials that span the year and make people want to watch weekly as they are released. That is of course not the same 4 or 5 serials, so they need maybe 20 or 30 quality serials throughout the year to target different audiences. The odd movie event can be mixed in, but the backbone of a subscription has to be serials…. Netflix dropping an entire series in one go for the year… IMHO… is a bad business model.</p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    02 February, 2022 - 6:46 am

    <p>The problem is, most people can’t afford multiple services, so they either settle on one they really like – one that has regular new content they want to see – or they will hope when a new series has been (fully) released to watch that, then hop to the next one.</p><p><br></p><p>I have 3 months free Disney+ waiting for me, but I’m really not motivated to register for it, yet. I already have Prime and there are a couple of series there that I am watching, so no time for Disney+ as well at the moment. I’ll probably save it for when there is a lull in Prime.</p><p><br></p><p>We get around 50 free to air channels, which covers most of the big series and films (but not stuff like Amazon Originals etc.), so if I want to watch Game of Thrones, for example, I just have to wait for one of the free channels to repeat it. </p><p><br></p><p>It also gets boring, watching the same show day-in-day-out. I did binge watch the first 24 series (I waited until the DVD set came out and I watched 24 in 24 hours). But I just can’t do that these days. Even watching 2 – 3 episodes a night, after 2 or 3 days, I’ll take a week or 2 break, before going back and watching the next few. Possibly because I grew up with 1 new episode a week for most shows.</p><p><br></p><p>I also think part of the mentality here is that you pay your TV license for the year and you get all the state channels, plus all the commercial channels. There was never any need to pay extra for channels, so now, with the streaming services, a lot of people still don’t see the point, the shows will eventually appear on free TV…</p><p><br></p><p>I can’t think of any series in the last 20 years that I would go out of my way to pay a subscription service just to watch it or binge it, rather than just wait for it to appear on free TV. Having it available on Prime makes me appreciate watching something I might like, when I want, but, again, we tend to watch the free to air channels streaming catalogues, which is mainly localised content, rather than Prime, which is mainly US fare – although there are some great finds, like Profiling Paris, if you look hard enough.</p>

    • prebengh

      02 February, 2022 - 8:23 am

      <p>If people can’t afford several streaming channels they can just switch channels several times a year. Then they are all the released tv series and movies, maybe not on day one.</p><p>I often prefer to wait to watch a series until all episodes are released. </p>

  • justme

    Premium Member
    02 February, 2022 - 8:54 am

    <p>I think part of the issue is the subscription mindset. If I just want to watch a movie or particular series, why am I going to subscribe ? I dont watch enough to warrant a subscription as I have neither the time, inclination, or energy. The subscribe/unsubscribe routine is doable but a pain and my time is limited. I’ll just wait until I can rent or it can be watched for free. Its simply not worth it to subscribe (at least for me).</p>

  • matsan

    02 February, 2022 - 12:45 pm

    <p>Apple TV+ for a month and binged-watched The Foundation. Due to the fever I could watch it all through the end. Cancelled 30 seconds after final episode ended.</p>

  • jwpear

    Premium Member
    02 February, 2022 - 2:12 pm

    <p>It’s crazy at how quickly these things start to add up. So easy to think "oh, it’s only $9 per month" and rack up a sizable monthly expense across all of them. I wish these services would offer an option to toggle between advertisement-funded streaming subscriptions and paid, much like Thurrott Premium.</p><p><br></p><p>I’m still waiting for the ability to pick and pay for the exact networks I want. Sling started out pretty well, but it is now just about as bloated as the cable companies were. ESPN and some of the other sports networks are some I’d like to be able to get independently of the other crap they’re usually bundled with.</p>

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