The streaming sector is experiencing many changes with the introduction of advertising-supported rates. But, even so, there are services that fail to continue growing. For this reason, two streaming platforms are considering the possibility of merging. That could change everything.
No matter how popular streaming is and the large number of subscriptions generated daily, not all services are equally successful. Some are beginning to look for alternatives to seek survival in a situation that is becoming more complicated every day. This is where the possible Paramount+ plan comes into the picture.
A fusion to survive
First of all, it must be said that the possible merger that would be taking shape behind the scenes would be that of Paramount Plus+ and Peacock. These are two platforms that are not available in Spain, although Paramount has a presence, in a certain way, through SkyShowtime.
However, the important thing is not its availability, but the masterstroke that its responsible companies would be preparing as a way to withstand the tide that could arrive in the future. This merger movement would not be so strange if it were imitated by other platforms that are present in the market, including the Spanish one.
Several mergers have already occurred
The reality is that the maneuver that Paramount Plus+ and Peacock could opt for is not as new as one might imagine. In reality, Peacock is a Comcast platform, a company that, at the time, allowed Disney+ to get its hands on Hulu, another of its streaming services, to merge it. Different companies, given this trend, could get on the bandwagon of mergers or purchases, in order to keep users interested.
In the aforementioned case of Disney, the effect of the merger with Hulu had very positive consequences, especially in those countries where this service is not available. Thus, as in Spain, what happened is that a large part of the Hulu catalog went on to feed the Disney+ grid, which caused the value of the mouse platform to increase considerably. In other markets where Hulu still exists as an independent entity, what Disney+ does is offer a joint subscription for both services, practically giving away access to the second platform.
The benefit for both streaming services has been enormous. Disney+ has managed, thanks to Hulu, to provide a variety of content to a platform that depends too much on Marvel, Star Wars and the entity’s other properties. For its part, Hulu, which does not exactly have very surprising content schedules, is managing to stay afloat. Something similar could happen with Paramount Plus+ and Peacock, since it is increasingly becoming apparent that there is greater exhaustion among users regarding the idea of paying for many streaming services each month. If they could reduce the payments and the investment they make, but maintain access to their preferred platforms, possibly the feelings would be more positive.
Within this trend of mergers, we must not forget that a while ago HBO Max combined with Discovery+ to create the new Max. It has not yet arrived in Spain, given that the preparation is taking a long time, but we will not have to wait too long to see the premiere of this merger of streaming platforms. As we said, possibly their mixture will help generate more interest as is already happening in the United States.
In addition, an unexpected collaboration was recently announced between Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney and Fox to launch a new sports streaming service that can stand up to the large platforms that reign in this market. The union is proving to be the best option to increase the volume of content offered to users. Because one thing is clear: the public wants more content and pay less, so the days when each home had subscriptions to three, four or even five services will soon end.
Aside from all this is Netflix, which instead of thinking about merging or buying platforms, what it is doing is licensing content from its rivals with a checkbook. And, for the moment, it seems that the strategy is working for them to ensure that their users do not look for alternatives. There is no doubt that this is another way of approaching the problem that most services are encountering.
