The launch of discovery+ added yet another streaming service to the already crowded streaming market. However, unlike other services that launched in the past year—Peacock, HBO Max and Disney+—discovery+ is offering a completely different genre, which is unscripted series, documentaries, and reality TV. CEO of Discovery Inc., David Zaslav, has long said that they do not aim to compete with the other media companies in the scripted series arena, instead, their goal is to offer a complementary service, which gives audiences their fix of reality TV shows.
During an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Alley, Zaslav doubled down on the sentiment saying, “We believe that we’ll let the rest of that group fight out scripted series and scripted movies, but we have a great lane in the U.S. and around the world, and that lane is we have great content that people love: 90 Day Fiance, Chip and Joanna Gaines, Oprah Winfrey,” he said. “And we’re completely differentiated.”
discovery+’s library of shows is quite robust, with 55,000 episodes of TV across 2,500 series with content from HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, OWN, Animal Planet, Discovery and Magnolia Network. The service also includes content from BBC, A&E, History, Lifetime, The Dodo, and Popsugar.
Like the rest of the streaming services, discovery+ will also launch a series of its own originals featuring notable personalities like the Irwins, Jonathan and Drew Scott, Chip and Joanna Gaines, Bobby Flay, Ree Drummond, Guy Fieri, Giada De Laurentiis, Lieutenant Joe Kenda and so many more - all in one place.
Though they won’t be in direct competition with existing streaming services, the new offering still has to gain market share, even if its meant to be a complementary service. “We think … that we can be very, very big,” Zaslav stated. “That’s our bet, we’re putting a lot of resources behind it, and over the next couple of quarters we’ll be reporting out our numbers and then we’ll be projecting out how big big really is.”
discovery+ launched with two tiers—a $4.99 ad-supported tier, as well as a $6.99 ad-free tier. The service is available across major platforms, including Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Android TV, iOS, Android, and your browser. In addition, you will be able to stream on Xbox (including Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S) and Samsung Smart TV (2017+).