Philo Tops 1 Million Subscribers as CEO Discusses Company’s Future Goals
More free streaming channels are headed to Philo this year, and the streamer might even create a free platform that won’t require the viewer to make an account.
Philo is one of The Streamable’s favorite live TV streaming platforms because it fills a need that no other service provides. Philo offers top cable entertainment channels like A&E and Lifetime in its lineup of more than 70 total networks, for a price of just $25 per month. It gives customers who don’t want to pay for channels they don’t watch a great place to enjoy their favorite content, and company CEO Andrew McCollum revealed at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that the service now has more than 1 million subscribers.
- Philo’s 1M subscribers place it behind services like Fubo, but not by much.
- Crossing the 1M mark shows conclusively there is a place in the market for an entertainment-focused streamer like Philo.
- McCollum promises more free ad-supported channels are coming to Philo, along with a potential free service that won’t require a subscription.
How Did Philo Reach 1 Million Subscribers?
Philo offers a smaller bundle of cable channels with no live sports channels — like ESPN and FS1 — or news networks such as CNN. This allows it to keep subscription costs low; Philo has only raised prices once in its history, and customers who signed up before that price increase have been allowed to stay at the subscription rate that they signed up at.
One way that Philo has been able to supplement its channel offerings is via free ad-supported stream TV (FAST) channels, which deliver content 24 hours a day but also do not carry higher-cost items like live news and sports. Integrating these into the Philo lineup has allowed subscribers to enjoy more content without having to pay more for it.
This has created a dedicated subscriber base for Philo. It’s close to Fubo’s last reported subscriber total of 1.48M customers, and also not that far from Sling TV’s total of 2.12M viewers. It’s not particularly close to YouTube TV’s 6.5 million subscribers, but it has undeniably carved out a niche for itself in the live TV streaming market nonetheless.
Taking the family-friendly, skinny bundle approach to streaming likely will always keep Philo’s subscriber base smaller than the largest handful of services in the space, but by keeping costs down — both for customers and the company — the streamer appears to be threading the needle of being the perfect size for consumers who don’t need to have every channel available to them at all times.
What’s Next for Philo?
In the wake of CES, Philo’s CEO Andrew McCollum sat down with Light Reading senior analyst Jeff Baumgartner to talk about the success of Philo and its future. He indicated that one of the company’s big goals for 2024 is to add more FAST channels and potentially create a free ad-supported streaming platform as well.
“You’ll see a lot of changeover this year in terms of us continuing to add FAST content, and continuing to find more ways to make it available to people,” McCollum told Baumgartner. “Maybe there’s a way to get access to the content without having to be a subscriber, possibly without having to make an account.”
McCollum also hinted that Philo may seek out carriage deals similar to the one recently agreed to by Disney and Charter which sees Spectrum TV customers granted access to Disney+ Basic at no extra charge. The Philo CEO hailed the deal as a good one for the future of the industry, and while he did not point to any streamers that his service could potentially bundle with, McCollum has made no secret of his fondness for bundling in the past.
Philo is an excellent way for TV audiences to get some of their favorite cable entertainment channels without having to worry about paying for sports and news channels they never watch. The streamer costs just $25 per month, and features over 70 channels as well as unlimited DVR that will keep your recordings for a year.
Philo
Philo is a live TV streaming service designed for entertainment lovers which includes 60+ channels for $25 per month. It’s an especially attractive option for fans of live TV who don’t watch sports.