‘Succession’ Doesn’t Drive Max Viewers to Discovery Content, but ‘Game of Thrones’ Does; Recommendations Key in Consolidation

For a while, consolidation seemed like nothing more than a panicked reaction to a bustling streaming marketplace. Sure, there were lots of new streaming services popping up, but there were billions of global customers to go around. Surely, the market could support dozens, or even hundreds, of niche streaming platforms without any major problems… right?

In 2023, most of those notions have been shattered. The majority of media companies have found streaming to be highly unprofitable thus far, despite compiling tens of millions of subscribers. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav recently predicted that consolidation of streaming platforms was inevitable, and helped to fulfill his own prophecy by merging HBO Max and discovery+ into the new service Max on May 23.

New data released by Parrot Analytics is showing how consolidating streaming services can more effectively keep customers who had been primarily using one or the other platform engaged. This is more challenging with a service like Max, which brought together two streaming services whose libraries don’t have much in common with each other. This disparity means WBD has a harder job in convincing former HBO Max users to watch discovery+ titles, and vice versa.

Take “Succession,” for example. The show’s fourth season drove huge demand among audiences, stronger than all preceding seasons. But because it doesn’t have much in common with the discovery+ library — largely comprised of unscripted lifestyle and reality series — it doesn’t drive users to series imported from discovery+. That means its value to Max is more in bringing new customers to the service, rather than in retaining customers who have already subscribed.

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Gaining new users is all well and good, but WBD gets more positive financial results from retaining customers than from signing up new ones. To solve this dilemma, the company must find Discovery shows that interest viewers once they’ve finished a series from the HBO side of the streamer. Parrot identifies “Game of Thrones” as one such potential series; “Game of Thrones” shares audiences with discovery+ series like “Deadliest Catch,” suggesting that viewers might migrate from “GoT” to that show if properly prompted. From there, they can discover other unscripted titles that they might potentially enjoy.

Disney can also use this strategy when its “one-app experience” featuring Disney+ and Hulu launches. Disney will have a somewhat easier job integrating its two streaming audiences into one, as shows sharing affinity with one another have already reduced friction between the two apps.

For instance, Hulu gets new episodes of “The Simpsons” the day after they air on the linear Fox network. Previous seasons of the show already reside on Disney+, giving users a natural reason to switch from one library to the other. There are a ton of titles on Hulu that also share interest with “The Simpsons,” such as “Family Guy,” “Bob's Burgers” and “King of the Hill.” Hulu recently launched a new content hub called “Animayhem” to make these animated shows geared towards adults easier to find.

The trick for Disney will be in driving fans of Hulu’s general entertainment content to Disney+’s more brand-specific titles. This will be more difficult to accomplish because Hulu users are generally less interested in original programming; according to Parrot, the 10 most in-demand series on Hulu from the past 30 days all originated on linear TV, and none of the top-25 most in-demand titles on the service during the first quarter of 2023 were Hulu originals. Perhaps that will change in Q2 following the release of the highly-acclaimed Season 2 of “The Bear.”

The good news for Disney in this case is the power of its franchises. Users who watch sci-fi shows like “The Orville” or “Devs” on Hulu will likely have some sort of interest in Star Wars series like “The Mandalorian” and “Andor” on Disney+. Once they’ve arrived on Disney+, they’ll find Marvel shows like “Secret Invasion” and “WandaVision” that also share thematic elements with content they’ve previously enjoyed.

Streamers are beginning the process of consolidation, which means that users will have more to watch with their subscription than was previously available. But content discovery remains a key issue for streamers to solve, and they must ensure they are properly guiding users to similar content as platform libraries grow if they want to keep users from churning away.