Warner Bros. Discovery Free Streaming Service Is Still Coming, But Company Will Wait for ‘Right Time’ to Launch
It seems to be full steam ahead for just about every aspect of Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming business these days. The company now boasts 97.6 million global subscribers between HBO Max and discovery+, and is getting set to launch Max — which will combine much of the content from the two streamers onto one platform — on May 23.
There’s one area related to streaming where the company seems (ironically) to be slowing down, however: FAST. Free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels are an easy way for a company to monetize content it owns that rarely sees engagement on a paid streaming service. Advertising revenues bring in quick dollars, which is why more and more media companies are launching FAST channels nowadays.
WBD has been expanding its own FAST offerings lately, licensing the rights of numerous properties to several free streaming hubs including The Roku Channel and Tubi, which are now the online homes of shows like “Westworld” and “Minx.” WBD representatives have confirmed to The Streamable that the company is planning a FAST service of its own despite these deals, but new comments from streaming executives at the company make it sound as if such a platform is still a ways off.
WBD’s streaming chief J.B. Perrette had the opportunity to speak about his company’s FAST plans during the quarterly conference call to discuss its earnings report with analysts on Friday. Perrette said WBD is pursuing a hybrid strategy and may continue to build FAST channels that it will license to other platforms in the short term.
“We realize that the platforms and the distributors out there, there are many who have the scale and the size, and we want to get our channel portfolio out there and viewed,” Perrette said. “And since it’s an audience aggregation and advertising business, we’ve already gotten out with Roku and Tubi, and we’ve been very pleased with the initial success with a very small but a handful of channels that were out there already. We will continue to look to see if we can increase that volume, to your point, for a second, third, fourth monetization window for certain content.”
He went on to explain that just because WBD will pursue these tactics to build financial success for now, in the long term the company still plans to build a proprietary FAST platform of its own.
“At some point in time, longer term, we do see this opportunity for this WB TV brand and platform to exist in an owned and operated environment,” Perrette continued. “I think at some point, that will be dovetailed with the state of the advertising business, and we want to make sure we can to market at the right time when the demand is sufficient. But we will continue to execute this hybrid strategy of syndicated channels initially. And then over time, at the right time, launch our own service.”
This “hybrid” strategy can only work if WBD has enough content to spread around the streaming ecosystem while retaining key titles and franchises for a FAST service of its own. There’s little worry in that regard, however; speaking in late February, company CEO David Zaslav estimated that the majority of viewership on HBO Max was driven by just 40% of its content. That means there are thousands of titles on the service (and its companion streamer discovery+) that would make for excellent FAST fare, and WBD has the luxury of picking and choosing which titles to keep and which to license away.
Viewers who were hoping a WBD FAST service was coming right on the heels of Max’s launch will surely be disappointed by this news. But WBD will still create FAST channels to license to other outlets and is still planning to launch its own ad-supported free streaming service when the time is right.
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