TBI Tech & Analysis: How SkyShowtime’s ad move reveals ambition

With pan-European streamer SkyShowtime rolling out an ad tier across its 22 European markets tomorrow, Omdia’s Tony Gunnarsson explores how the move could help it compete with the global giants.

Warszawianka and The Tattooist Of Auschwitz streamer SkyShowtime launched in September 2022, born as a joint venture between Comcast and Paramount.

It first replaced Paramount+ in the Nordics and then in multiple European markets where Comcast-owned Sky does not have a direct retail business, including the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. The service is also widely available across Central & Eastern Europe, where Poland is its key market.

A year after it finalised its geographical rollout, SkyShowtime has yet to reach the milestone of five million subscriptions, putting it far behind other global SVODs.

It is available as direct-to-consumer and via telco bundling in select markets – notably the Nordics, the Netherlands, and Spain – and Omdia’s analysis shows that a third of all SkyShowtime’s European subscriptions are bundled.

In a fiercely competitive market, SkyShowtime has so far failed to become a permanent feature in European household SVOD self-bundles. To date, it is a companion service, seasonally used by customers who view Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and Amazon as their main streaming services.

SkyShowtime’s new hybrid ad-supported subscription tier will be priced lower than current tiers, which will remain ad-free.

The move does not come as a surprise – Omdia has long predicted that all major SVOD services will move ahead with ad tiers before the end of 2024 – and in this respect, SkyShowtime is just the latest streamer to do so. A cheaper priced ad tier should help drive additional uptake.

It has already experimented with pricing promotions, and there are signs that a lower price does drive subscriber acquisition. To date, SkyShowtime has only reached scale via telco bundling, and this move is, therefore, an attempt to raise its profile as a standalone service in its own right.

The report above was written by Tony Gunnarsson, principal analyst for TV, video and advertising, at research group Omdia, which – like TBI – is part of Informa. The report, ‘SkyShowtime seeks a higher profile with ad tier launch’ is available via Omdia’s monthly publication, Media Tech Digest.