Streaming Black Fridays are returning despite the lack of profits

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The streaming business is at a tipping point. Streaming services from major entertainment companies have collectively lost billions of dollars for years, and now their company owners are poised to turn a profit.

But that doesn’t stop them from doing steep, steep Discounts to attract new subscribers for Black Friday.

That’s the bottom line of streaming: you have to attract new users, but you also have to monetize them.

And while streaming isn’t quite a profitable business yet (Disney and Max are certainly close), the stiff competition means they feel like they still need to be aggressive in acquiring those subscribers.

Of course, with one exception: Neither Netflix, nor Amazon Prime Video, nor Apple TV+ offer discounts. If you’re already extremely profitable (like Netflix) or funded by a tech giant (Amazon and Apple), discounts are seemingly unnecessary.

Disney is offering a number of Black Friday discounts, including a year of Hulu for $0.99 per month or a year of Disney Bundle of Disney+ and Hulu for $2.99 ​​per month. New Hulu subscribers can also add Starz as an add-on for $0.99 per month for a year (yes, Starz is available as an add-on for Hulu).

It’s worth noting that Disney appears to be the entertainment company that has turned the corner in the streaming space. Its direct-to-consumer business posted net income of $321 million in the fiscal fourth quarter.

At NBCUniversal, Peacock offers an annual subscription for $19.99 or six months of the service for $1.99 per month.

At Paramount, despite the uncertainty surrounding Paramount+ due to the pending acquisition of Skydance, the company is offering a discount, with both Paramount+ and Paramount+ with Showtime offering a discount of $2.99 ​​per month for six months.

And Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max takes a similar approach, offering six months for $2.99 ​​per month.

Of course, there is a catch with the Black Friday offers.

With the exception of Paramount+ with Showtime, all offers are based on their advertising tiers. This makes sense because for many of these companies, ad tiers generate higher ARPU than ad-free options. So even with the steep discounts, companies have the opportunity to make up for lost subscription revenue, and if users stick around even after the discounted plan expires, all the better.

And Peacock, the streaming service that seems furthest from profitability (it lost just, er, $436 million last quarter), is offering an annual plan to try to retain users …and hopes they tune in so they can monetize it through ads.

Streaming is a tough business. With the exception of Netflix, profits are hard to come by. But it seems to be even harder to get subscribers. So Black Friday sales are making a comeback and are likely here to stay.