ESPN is off to the races
Disney expanded its partnership with Formula One auto racing through 2025. The deal includes airing more than 15 F1 races on ABC and ESPN each season and streaming rights on ESPN+. Formula One has become more popular in recent years and fans will now have more racing content to watch. Starting next year there will be six races in the Americas which means U.S. fans won’t have any time zone issues tuning in. Of note, the 2022 live F1 races have brought in over a million viewers on ESPN networks.
The NPD Take:
- The expanded direct-to-consumer rights will help continue to grow ESPN+ and the Disney streaming bundle as sports rights continue to be a high value proposition for streaming services.
Apple TV+ price hike
The cost for Apple TV+ increased from $4.99/month to $6.99/month and the annual subscription from $49.99 to $69, the first price hike since its launch three years ago. Apple also raised prices for its bundled service, Apple One, and Apple Music, the latter due to increased licensing costs. The cost for Apple TV+ was initially priced low when content was thin, but in recent years the service has expanded its library to include award winning shows such as Ted Lasso, Coda, and The Morning Show. Apple has finally jumped on the price-hike bandwagon like other subscription services including Netflix, Disney and YouTube who have recently raised some of their subscription rates.
The NPD Take:
- It remains to be seen if this price hike will generate subscriber churn. While Apple TV+ bolsters a stronger array of content than at launch, consumers are facing price hikes across most streaming services. As such they are rationalizing their choices and cancelling those services not seen as must haves.
HBO Max adding Star Trek and Harry Potter
Starting Nov. 1, HBO Max will be adding all 10 original Star Trek and all eight Harry Potter Films. The Star Trek franchise was on Paramount+ until the titles fell off the roster as of Oct. 1 and will resurface on HBO Max on November 1. The Harry Potter films have been shown at different times on HBO Max and Peacock due to different windowing agreements but will now return back home to Warner’s HBO Max. In November, HBO Max will also be adding a plethora of new content including Titans, Magnolia Tables with Joanna Gaines, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Shaq, and Love, Lizzo, plus exclusive holiday films.
The NPD Take:
- As with cable TV in the past, viewers will now need to get used to the shifting availability of content across streaming services because licensing deals between studios shuffle content availability.