Keeping up with Netflix: NBCUniversal to launch ‘all-reality’ TV streaming service Hayu in Canada
Canadians cord cutters who want to keep up with their favourite reality stars will soon have access to an online video streaming service dedicated solely to reality television.
NBCUniversal International will launch Hayu – an “all-reality” over-the-top service like Netflix Inc. – in Canada in 2018, the Comcast Corp.-owned entertainment giant said Wednesday.
“Given that reality content is hugely popular in Canada, we are pleased to be readying hayu – a (subscription video on demand) product with a proven track record – specifically curating the service for Canadian fans of the genre,” Hendrik McDermott, NBCUniversal’s senior vice president of branded on-demand, said in a statement.
“We look forward to introducing hayu to a whole new community and to establishing the kinds of innovative partnerships we’ve set up in other markets.”
Hayu first launched in the U.K., Ireland and Australia in spring 2016 before expanding to Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark in late 2017. It offers more than 150 shows including Keeping up with the Kardashians, The Real Housewives and Million Dollar Listing. It said most of the content debuts online the same day it’s released in the U.S. Users can download content to watch offline.
NBCUniversal would not reveal the exact launch date or pricing for the service, although noted it costs $5.99 in Australia. It listed telecommunications companies including the Sky, Eir and Telstra as partners in the U.K., Ireland and Australia, but did not indicate whether it has any similar partnerships in Canada.
With the announcement, NBCUniversal becomes the second major U.S. network to announce digital streaming services north of the border in the past week. Last week, CBS All Access started offering its online subscription service to Canadians for $5.99 per month, marking its first international expansion.
Online streaming services have proliferated as more consumers ditch their TV packages and use the internet to access content. Television subscriptions are still popular, but they’re stagnating, especially among younger audiences. As such, companies are trying to mirror the success of Netflix by launching their own digital subscription services.
But it’s expected to become all about who has the best content. Netflix, which has an estimated 6 million subscribers in Canada, plans to spend up to US $8 billion on content this year alone thanks to massive revenue growth from subscribers around the world.
A recent report by Convergence Research’s Brahm Eiley noted that when networks like CBS launch subscription services in Canada, they become both a supplier of content to and competitor for eyeballs with players like Bell Media, Corus Entertainment Inc. and Rogers Media.
“On the one hand U.S. programmers do not want Canadian programmers/TV access providers to sink too quickly given the revenue that comes from programming sales to them, on the other there is a direct to consumer opportunity as well as an opportunity to sell to Amazon, Netflix,” Eiley wrote.
Eiley forecasts that there will be more over-the-top video subscriber households than TV subscribers in Canada by 2020. As it stands, about 11 million households subscribe to TV services.
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