Roku partners with Sharp TV
Roku announced a partnership with Sharp to bring the Roku operating system to Sharp smart TVs in 2022 in both HD and 4K. The Sharp Roku TVs will have an integrated Roku OS and offer customizable home screens. Additionally, the partnership will be compatible with three major voice ecosystems and viewers will have access to over a thousand channels. More information will be released in the coming months.
The NPD Take:
- The partnership will further expand Roku’s footprint, one that is already the largest in the U.S.
- This represents a pivot from Android TV for Sharp.
Sling slashes trial offer
Sling TV is ending its $10 off first month for new sign-ups and replacing it with a more limited 3-day free trial offer. The $10 offer was introduced last year and applied to the Blue and Orange plans. Additionally, new users who prepay for the first month can also get a Chromecast with Google TV for free. Sling’s limited free trial is much shorter than rivals Hulu Live TV (7-day free trial) and YouTube TV (2 weeks free and $10 off first 3 months).
The NPD Take:
- The move to tighten the trial offer may result in higher revenues driven by subscribers who truly intend stay with the service.
- While a strong consumer acquisition tool, free trials are a core driver of churn.
Peacock to stream all 2022 Winter Olympics events
The 2022 Winter Olympics will be available for live stream directly on Peacock’s premier tier from February 2 – 20th. All events, including those shown on broadcast and cable networks, will be available on the streamer for paying customers without a pay TV subscription required. This is a strategy shift from the Summer Olympics which had a mixed release of some paid streaming-exclusive events such as Basketball, some events that were available on the free-streaming tier and other programming needing a pay TV subscription.
The NPD Take:
- The Olympics drive a lot of buzz and viewership. NBCUniversal hopes that having all the events available of the premium tier will help drive paid subscriptions.
- While the Olympics will likely drive a surge in initial sign-ups, the challenge will be to retain subscribers after the games end.