The arrival of “Hamilton” on Disney+ in the summer of 2020 showed that there was a major appetite among the public for streaming Broadway shows. But a few weeks before the “Hamilton” launch, in May of that year, Broadway on Demand launched a subscription video on demand service. The service launched at a time when Broadway and other theaters were closed due to the pandemic.
Now, Broadway on Demand has announced that it will launch a FAST (Free Ad-Supported TV) service, which will exist alongside the existing paid streaming platform.
Broadway on Demand is a project of Broadway Licensing and Triple-B Media and its content library includes shows from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and London’s West End, as well as documentaries, and the “Broadway Master Class” show. Among the current offerings is an “unauthorized documentary” called “Hamilton: One Shot to Broadway.”
The company claimed 300,000 subscribers in the first year of its subscription service. The idea of the service is that rather than cannibalizing demand for in-person shows — which has long been the concern over live captures and film adaptations — that this easily accessible content will instead encourage viewers to go out to the theater.
Broadway on Demand is a competitor of Broadway HD, another streaming service that offers theatrical shows.
The FAST version of Broadway on Demand will be featured on seven platforms at launch, including Local Now, with a goal of 20 million homes by the end of the summer.
Broadway on Demand’s most prominent offerings largely consist of shows that had relatively short runs on Broadway; “Allegiance,” for instance, closed in 2016, while “Bandstand” closed in 2017.
The service has plenty of competition for the attention of Broadway lovers in the streaming space, as several prominent musicals with Broadway and off-Broadway pedigrees debuted on other streaming services in 2021. These included the big screen adaptation of “tick, tick…BOOM” and the live capture of Broadway’s “Diana: The Musical” on Netflix, an adaptation of London musical “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” on Prime Video, and the pro-tape of Broadway’s “Come From Away” on Apple TV+. Musicals that had theatrical releases, like “West Side Story,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” and “In the Heights,” also landed on streaming platforms.
Netflix is set to debut “13: The Musical” in August with “Matilda: The Musical” coming to the streaming giant in December.