In Q4 2021, STARZ added 1.6 million subscribers, including 600,000 domestically. The streaming service has now reached a total of 17.7 million subscribers. A year ago, STARZ had 9.5 million subscribers in the U.S.. Since last year, STARZ is up 15% domestically. This follows an industry-wide trend of slowing growth stateside with most new users being added internationally.
The company is targeting 50-60 million total streaming subscribers by 2025.
The company hinted that it could be an attractive add-on for other streaming services looking to bulk up a potential bundle offering. STARZ announced it will launch seven new series in the next six months.
In October, Lionsgate, the parent company of STARZ, reached a multi-year agreement with Redbox. Redbox now has access to many of Lionsgate’s 17,000 titles. Lionsgate has shown consistent interest in the ongoing growth in the streaming space and has found ways to profit off this growth in the past.
In September, STARZ CEO Jeff Hirsch shared about the streaming service's current position. He said that the service is meant to be an add-on rather than a standalone service, like its competitors.
Hirsch explained, “There’s these … mass-market kinds of broad streaming services that are really trying to service everything in the home and think that’s the kind of cornerstone of the WarnerMedia-Discovery (type of company). And you’re really trying to service everyone in the home and they’re trying to get somewhere between 300 and 400 million subscribers worldwide,” he said. “That’s not Starz. That’s not how we were ever built. If you think about back to the old linear world, we were always sold on top of cable or satellite as a kind of cherry-on-top of broader services.”
The STARZ boss also referred to the streaming service as a “great complementary bundling partner.” Rather than striving for STARZ to become a standalone service, the company sees the value in catering to a more niche audience. Going forward, we may see more unique and tailored offerings from STARZ compared to other services.
STARZ hasn’t seen the high numbers that its competitors have, but the company hasn’t been making changes to reach those subscriber counts. As Hirsch mentioned previously, however, the company doesn’t see this as a negative.
Throughout Q4 2021, STARZ offered many discounts, which may have been a major contributor to gaining more subscribers. With a deal that dropped the price down to $3 per month, it would be hard for many consumers to say no to trying out the service.
STARZ and Sony had an agreement in which the studio’s films were available to stream on the platform after their theatrical debuts. In the fall “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” debuted on STARZ, which could have added subscribers.
However, at the end of 2021, Sony’s deal with STARZ came to an end as well. With this agreement coming to an end, it’s possible that current subscribers will make the switch to Netflix, which is where Sony’s new releases will go through 2027.
STARZ
STARZ offers a subscription video streaming service that gives access to content on the STARZ channel without the need of a cable subscription. With your subscription, you’ll get access to 7,500+ films and episodes, including all of their current originals like “Outlander,” The Serpent Queen,” “BMF,” and “Power.”