AMC Says It Will Consider More Max-Style Licensing Deals After Success of Arrangement with Warner Bros. Discovery

AMC is not ready to close the doors on its various streaming services just yet. It claims just 11.1 million streaming customers total, and with the rise of monstrous platforms like Netflix with hundreds of millions of users, it has almost felt like a foregone conclusion that AMC+, Shudder and other AMC streamers will wink out of existence sooner or later. But the platforms continue to soldier on, despite the challenges.

• AMC licensed seven titles to Warner Bros. Discovery to stream on that company’s platform Max in September.
• The licensing agreement brought more attention to AMC+, and AMC CEO Kristin Dolan says her company is open to similar deals with other streamers.
• Netflix and Hulu make sense as partners for AMC, but which other streaming services could the company team with?

Were AMC Shows Successful on Max?

Max first began streaming AMC original titles on Sept. 2, and kept them on the platform through the month of October. There were seven titles included in the deal: “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire,” “Dark Winds,” “Gangs of London” (Seasons 1 and 2), “Fear the Walking Dead” (Seasons 1 through 7), “Killing Eve” (Seasons 1 through 4), “A Discovery of Witches” (Seasons 1 through 3), and “Ride with Norman Reedus” (Seasons 1 through 5).

No current seasons of AMC shows were licensed to stream on Max, an important detail because it allowed AMC to drive users to its own streaming services to watch the latest episodes of these shows. Speaking at Content London this week, AMC CEO Kristin Dolan said that she was pleased with the results that the licensing deal brought to her company, and said viewers could expect more of the same in the near future.

“We expect to do a lot more of this and we are actively talking to pretty much everybody,” said Dolan. “Because we’re not vertically integrated by being a broadcaster or owned by a distributor, we can dance with anyone that’s interested in dancing with us — and I say that in the most collegial way.

One survey from earlier this month proved conclusively that AMC titles saw a jump in popularity once they were available on both Max and AMC streaming platforms, so it’s no surprise that AMC is embracing the chance to pursue further licensing deals. But what streaming services make the most sense for AMC to team up with next?

‘Dark Winds’ on Hulu, Shudder on Peacock: What AMC’s Next Licensing Deals Might Look Like

There’s no end to the possibilities for AMC’s next licensing deal, as Dolan pointed out. From her company’s perspective, it really only makes sense to partner with some of the bigger streaming services in the industry, as that will mean more potential eyes on the licensed titles.

Netflix, with its 247+ million subscribers, is the logical first choice. Because Netflix has so many categories of shows on offer, there’s really nothing in AMC’s lineup that wouldn’t be a good fit. A 2011 agreement between the two companies sent shows like “The Walking Dead,” “Breaking Bad” and other AMC hits to Netflix to stream for years before AMC created its own streaming platforms, and that history means the working relationship between the two is probably still quite good.

Hulu is an obvious candidate, as well. Its general entertainment library would absorb most AMC shows easily, especially a title like “Dark Winds,” which stars Zahn McClarnon and Elva Guerra, two members of the cast of Hulu’s series “Reservation Dogs.”

AMC could also send different content to different locations. Sending movies from Sundance Now to Max would make a great deal of sense, and simultaneously AMC could license some horror and thriller content to Peacock, which boasts an impressive library of spooky content as it is. The combinations and possibilities are endless as long as AMC is willing to think outside the box, which seems apparent.

These licensing deals could be a way for AMC to advertise itself to other companies for potential mergers and acquisitions. When asked if this was indeed her company’s strategy, Dolan played coy but didn’t shut the door on AMC streaming platforms being acquired by a larger firm.

“I don’t have any big announcements to make today but we are public in the U.S. — family-controlled but public — so we always operate in whatever is the best interests of shareholders,” she said. “My role for the years I’m here is to optimize the business in every way possible so we’re positioned for partnership, future investment, acquisition or whatever comes our way.”

What that means for the long-term survival of AMC+ and other AMC streaming platforms remains to be seen, but fans of AMC titles should keep their eye out, as more of them could be available on other streaming services in the near future.