Lionsgate CEO Predicts Streaming Services Will Reach 13 to 15 Million Subs by End of Fiscal Year

Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer seems to believe that the company’s streaming services — Starz, Starzplay and Pantaya — are bound to see a boost as the coronavirus continues to force people to stay home. According to Deadline, Feltheimer believes the company will amass 13 to 15 million paid OTT subscribers by the end of its fiscal year, with Starz leading the pack.

During their fiscal fourth quarter earnings call, the company reported that Starzplay’s viewership had spiked by 20 percent, “driving international subs — including StarzPlay Arabia pand Canada — past the 5 million mark.” The company also revealed that Pantaya — the Spanish-language premium streaming service for their LatinX audience — saw a more than double subscribership leap as it went from 315,000 to nearly 700,000 paid subscriptions.

“The goal of combining Lionsgate and Starz was to build a premium global subscription platform backed by the full resources of our companies. Today that effort is achieving results. Our global streaming business reached more than 10 million worldwide OTT subs at the end of the quarter and will continue to grow to between 13 and 15 million paid subs by the end of the fiscal year,” Feltheimer stated during a conference call. “We are increasingly able to control our destiny through the continued rapid growth of the direct-to-consumer Starz app, which is now our third largest distribution platform in the U.S.”

Back in April, reports came out that the Starz app had risen 44 percent, while new subs rocketed 142 percent since the March 14 lockdown. In February, Lionsgate reported the Starz cable/streamer ended the quarter with 26.2 million subscribers, which broke down as 19.9 million linear and 6.3 million OTT customers.