CBS expects Discovery to get All Access subscriptions to 4 million

[RAMA]

http://trekmovie.com/2017/03/07/cbs...y-to-get-all-access-to-4-million-subscribers/

When announced subscriptions were 1.5 million. Now its around 2 mill.

 

[mos6507]

Methinks they put the cart before the horse. You have to build it before they come.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

Yeah, not gonna happen. The problem here is thatTrek has been left to wane in popularity/interest. The success of the JJ films is deceptive because much of it it was down to non Trek fans going to enjoy a summer action flick. But Trek fandom itself has undeniably shrunk since the heyday of the nineties. Hell it's shrunk since 10-12 years ago arguably. So they need to earn back the interest in it with a good, and sustained product. The revived Doctor Who is a great example because when it was brought back it's fandom had dwindled to those nostalgic for the decades old stuff. Instead CBS seems to arrogantly think that Trek as a brand is as powerful as something like Star Wars and that people will flock to it just at the very mention of it being Star Trek. What it shows is they have failed to do their research into the state of fandom and the state of overall interest in Star Trek as a brand.

 

[Mudd]

http://trekmovie.com/2017/03/07/cbs...y-to-get-all-access-to-4-million-subscribers/

When announced subscriptions were 1.5 million. Now its around 2 mill.

That's entirely reasonable.

 

[Number One]

Depending on which revelations about various details on the show we'll get to see in the coming months, they might get that. In fact if they don't manage to mess up what they're doing they could do better than that. Trekkies and some non trekkies will be curious. Then on, it's up to the quality of the show. It's not difficult to build an initial viewer base, the hard part is to retain it.

Those episodes that Fuller wrote might define the future of the season.

 

[Mudd]

It helps to read and respond to what's actually said. Moonves is not predicting that Star Trek will get their numbers to four million. He's calling it part of a programming strategy to get to that figure.

Once Star Trek comes on – which will be late summer/early fall – we expect the subscribers to go up considerably. We think as we keep adding original content, that’s going to be easy to get to four million there…It’s not even optimistic – we are confident we are going to hit those numbers.

 

[Tesophius]

What's four million? I'm sure there are many more who are excited for any new Sci Fi show that's at least somewhat hard science fiction. The last 10 years has been oversaturated with fantasy crap, I'm sure that the are the of millions craving something like Star Trek if not the brand itself. And six dollars a month is less than the daily cost of a typical lunch these days, anyone can afford it.

 

[Number One]

ENT, if I'm not mistaken, had episode viewership of around 5 million, at its peak, and they had to watch it through UPN. Not all Trekkies watched it either. So, I don't consider it far fetched to get this kind of numbers, as replying both to the article details and the thread title projection, as it is presented to be.

 

[Tesophius]

Are there stats on how many people watch Star Trek daily today across all platforms?

 

[Sakonna]

Are there stats on how many people watch Star Trek daily today across all platforms?

That would be fascinating info, but all the streaming services are notoriously resistant to releasing any sort of ratings data. I feel like I once read an interview with someone at CBS where they said they had been approached by every streaming service, asking to license Star Trek so they could produce their own new series, which suggests they were doing pretty well with the old shows.

The best we might get is how well the reruns do on BBC America (and that H&I channel? I don't get that one...)

 

[Tesophius]

The only indication is that "now trending" category, which, in my experience, ALWAYS has all kinds of star treks. I'm sure millions still watch Star Trek today, on daily basis.

On the other hand when I try to talk about Star Trek at work, no one seems to care. Some people had seen the new movies, but don't know or care about other Trek.

 

[Mudd]

There are probably between two and four million hardcore Trek fans in the United States. Some of them live together.

 

[cultcross]

Yeah, not gonna happen. The problem here is thatTrek has been left to wane in popularity/interest. The success of the JJ films is deceptive because much of it it was down to non Trek fans going to enjoy a summer action flick. But Trek fandom itself has undeniably shrunk since the heyday of the nineties. Hell it's shrunk since 10-12 years ago arguably. So they need to earn back the interest in it with a good, and sustained product. The revived Doctor Who is a great example because when it was brought back it's fandom had dwindled to those nostalgic for the decades old stuff. Instead CBS seems to arrogantly think that Trek as a brand is as powerful as something like Star Wars and that people will flock to it just at the very mention of it being Star Trek. What it shows is they have failed to do their research into the state of fandom and the state of overall interest in Star Trek as a brand.

The best counterpoint is contained in your post. Doctor Who took existing childhood nostalgia for a show that most people recognised but many could probably barely remember ever watching, and turned it into a hugely successful and long running new series. The BSG miniseries did the same with an even less well known franchise. A brand only has to bring them in the door, and Star Trek is as capable of that as any. After that, it will stand or fall on its merits.

 

[psCargile]

I already have Netflix, Vudu, and Amazon Prime, I don't feel like getting yet another service, even if it is cheap. I'd rather pay for each episode, or whole set from Amazon or Vudu.

I remember when cable first came out, and then HBO. If we had needed another cable box just for HBO, it probably wouldn't have sold as well.

I think CBS should cast the widest net to get the most buyers. If I have to subscribe to their service, I won't see it when it first airs. If I can purchase it by episode or season from CBS, I'll do that.

 

[Brass]

I think it's reasonable to assume that DIS will be the major draw for them, going forward. I actually think that 4 million number isn't crazy. The same audience who watches ST will typically be savvy enough to use streaming services. They won't alienate as big a portion of their intended audience if say, soap operas or football became streaming only. And who is kidding who, people who like ST will pay to see the new series. It will, however, remain to be seen if the quality will be enough to retain subscribers. I'm hoping it will be good, and I will definitely be subscribing from the start to support ST.

That said, I think it sucks we have to stream it. I enjoy the convenience, and use Netflix daily, but I also like just tuning in to TV.

 

[Sakonna]

That said, I think it sucks we have to stream it. I enjoy the convenience, and use Netflix daily, but I also like just tuning in to TV.

It's interesting, just yesterday I realized my brain had rewired on this topic... for the longest time, I felt just watching TV or playing something off the DVR was sinking into relaxation, whereas streaming was a little more like going to a movie, making a purposeful effort to do something: turn on the Roku, activate the app, click around on the menu, so many steps! Streaming was just never the default option when I sat down to watch TV.

Yesterday, without realizing there had ever been a shift underway, it suddenly occurred to me that my TV now lives on the Roku input, and every so often I switch over to live TV and it feels like a drag (the DVR/cable box software is so slow, there's never enough memory, it's always glitching, the listings aren't organized, this show I just stumbled upon is already half-over, bla bla bla)

Reminded me of all the other similar reversals I've had (going from "I'm suspicious of this ATM", to now I can't even remember of the last time I interacted with a bank teller... refusing to text at all, to regular texting conversations being a part of almost every relationship in my life... thinking the first person who told me about installing home wifi sounded a little crazy, why do you need to take your computer to every corner of the house?... etc, etc)

I guess that's always the arc of technology: "who would anyone ever use that?" to "I can't live without it!"

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

4 million is attainable, although CBSAA needs more content besides Discovery and The Good Wife/Fight. Netflix has what, around 50 million subscribers in the U.S.?

 

[Bones]

With the commercial-free subscription I'm in. Without that option I wouldn't be watching. No tolerance for commercials over here.

I'm curious if they will have enough other interesting content to keep me from cancelling my sub when DSC is off-season.

 

[wayoung]

I'm the opposite of most people here - I would have thought that only two millions subscribers added to the count would be a huge disappointment. 4 million viewers max for a $10 mil per episode series? Ouch. Now, if all two million additional keep their accounts then maybe it pays off, but still, that's a huge investment.

So much of this show seems to be relying on Netflix's international distribution. Netflix really seems to be the key player in DISC success.

 

[NOVE9]

I thought it was $7 million an episode which would be $91 million for the season. If they get 4 million viewers for ST DIS at $6 per month that's $312 million in revenue for the run of the season from subscriptions alone. Add advertising revenue to that and doesn't seem so bad.