Comcast fights for millennial viewership
Cable giant banking on services for generation of digital ‘cord cutters.’
The TV giant is setting up a streaming service to attract younger customers, who are increasingly ditching traditional cable.
Comcast, which became a TV powerhouse by signing up Generation Xers, baby boomers and their parents, now is fighting for millennial eyeballs.
The TV giant is investing in online media outlets like BuzzFeed and Vox that attract young viewers. It’s setting up a streaming TV service for millennials who don’t watch traditional TV. And it’s developing a YouTube-like video app and website.
It’s the latest effort by the TV industry to attract younger customers at a time when more millennials are becoming “cord cutters” by ditching traditional cable entirely.
As a result, companies are trying to beef up their video and Internet offerings to appeal to millennials. They hope to capture what makes digital companies successful with younger viewers, says Ken Doctor, a media analyst.
“They want to import some of the digital DNA,” he said.
Satellite TV company Dish Network has an Internet live TV service, Sling TV, which costs $20 a month. And Verizon has a mobile video ser- vice, which is expected to come out this year, and will stream sports and music with other content.
For its part, Comcast already is a cable giant, serving 22 percent of traditional U.S. TV customers and almost a quarter of Internet customers, according to data provid- er SNL Kagan. Now it’s trying to expand that reach to include more millennials. That includes:
■ A $15-a-month TV service called Stream, which is expected to begin in Boston in September, will include broadcast networks and HBO for its Internet customers.
■ Its NBCUniversal arm spent $200 million in August to add to Comcast’s stake in Vox Media, the media hub behind millennial-oriented news blog Vox, tech sites Re/ code and the Verge, and other properties. It also invested $200 million in quiz-and-list site BuzzFeed.
■ Working on a YouTubelike set-top box app this fall for its customers and a free website and mobile app for anyone, according to a person familiar with Comcast’s plans who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. Comcast wants the app to show video from companies like Disney’s Maker Studios, BuzzFeed, Vice, Vox and DreamWorks Animation’s AwesomenessTV, with ads.