Lower monthly cost, but accepting ad breaks when watching streaming content. In the wake of Netflix and Disney announcements – and the already consolidated experiences of Hulu, Rakuten or Pluto TV (which belongs to the Paramount galaxy, but which has the traits of streaming TV via the web rather than the on-demand platform) – Discovery moves first. And after having done so in the US and UK, he launches his discovery + in Italy at a controlled price (but with advertising).
The content-advertising mix
The Warner Bros. Discovery – born from the acquisition of WarnerMedia by the Discovery group and led by the former CEO of Discovery David Zaslav – as verified by the Sole 24 Ore on the site of the group’s Ott service, it also launched proposals in Italy with different prices for discovery +, depending on whether or not advertising was accepted. All this doing a bit of a treadmill in general. But it must be said that Discovery was among the first players to experiment with the streaming subscription with advertising for a lower monthly cost for the subscriber. At the global launch of discovery + in January 2021, in fact, in the US, you could already subscribe at a cost of $ 5 per month (with ads included) or $ 7 per month, without interruption.
In Italy three packages for discovery +
The model was then replicated last March in the UK with the subscription to the “Entertainment pass” which dropped from 4.99 pounds per month to 3.99 pounds, although in this case the ad-free subscription is reserved only for customers who they choose the “Entertainment + Sport” pass. In Italy, on the other hand, the way seems to offer consumers more choice, given that there are three alternatives on the discovery + site: the “Entertainment with advertising” package (€ 1.99 per month or € 19.90 per year), the “Entertainment” package (3 , 99 euros per month or 39.90 per year, without advertising) and “Entertainment + sport” (7.99 per month or 69.90 per year, without advertising).
The goal of the “single” streaming service
It is likely now that the Warner Bros. Discovery group will extend this model to other countries where it is present with discovery + which, as was mentioned in the last quarterly a few days ago, has surpassed over 24 million subscribers worldwide. The goal, the leaders of the new group have made no secret of it, is to challenge the other streaming giants – Netflix and Disney + above all – by increasing the subscriber base as much as possible. All while waiting for the newborn Warner Bros. Discovery to combine its main services ott, Hbo max and discovery +, in a single service that already today would exceed 100 million subscribers.