CBS enters Canadian online streaming market
CBS Corp.’s plan to launch its online television streaming service in Canada is yet another indication the traditional broadcast world is moving online to cater to consumer demands, industry researchers say.
The American network and media owner announced Monday it will make CBS All Access available in Canada in early 2018. It’s the first international foray for its threeyear-old streaming service, which CBS estimates will have four million subscribers by the end of 2017.
“We are very aware of the international success that other streaming companies have had. We now see huge opportunity for CBS to go direct to consumer on a much bigger scale worldwide,” CBS CEO Leslie Moonves said in a conference call with investors.
Canadians won’t have access to all of the platform’s 9,000 TV episodes given Corus Entertainment Inc., BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. have already purchased broadcast rights for CBS content such as The Big Bang Theory or Survivor.
Researchers believe content availability could limit uptake north of the border, but say CBS’s entry marks a growing appetite for streaming over TV subscriptions. It follows this month’s launch of sports streaming platform DAZN and the December 2016 launch of Amazon Prime Video.
“Individually, I don’t think they will be substantial in impact but collectively they are signalling where the market is going — to on-demand-streaming slowly but surely,” said Solutions Research Group president Kaan Yigit.
Yigit sees CBS as a niche play, given the popularity of Netflix compared to Bell Media’s CraveTV or Amazon Prime Video. While DAZN is also niche, it may appeal to a deeper pool of hard-core sports fans, he said.
Sixty per cent of Canadians have at least one digital video, music or other content subscription such as Netflix or Spotify, according to SRG data. Yigit questions whether more people will subscribe to multiple services. He expects the volume of people who do so will expand slowly as worthy services become available over the next 18 to 24 months.
These streaming services should give the traditional TV players a lot to worry about, said Brahm Eiley of Convergence Research Group. Not only do they give consumers more options, but CBS may also be able to use the online platform as leverage when negotiating the rights to its shows, Eiley said.