Streamers are having crazy Cyber ​​Monday sales

Popular streaming services are still in customer acquisition mode, and their Cyber ​​Monday sales prove it.

Nowadays, customers can use various streaming services at significantly reduced rates for between two months and a year.

Thanks to Phillip Swann, who runs the TVAnswerMan blog and the , ESPN+ for $20 off an annual subscription, Hulu for $0.99 per month for one year, and Paramount+ for $2.99 ​​per month for two months.

The deals show that while executives like to talk about reducing churn in a more mature market for over-the-top streaming services, market share is still a top priority for many media companies with direct-to-consumer products. And while these kinds of sales will certainly attract new customers, they probably won’t help streamers become more profitable like investors would like.

Despite huge subscriber growth for this summer’s Olympics and an NFL Wild Card game before that, NBC’s Peacock still ended the third quarter in the red by $436 million. Paramount+ posted two profitable quarters this year in the second and third quarters, but warned investors not to expect a loss in the fourth quarter.

To its credit, Max looks set to make a sizable profit in 2025, with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav guessing the company will make over $1 billion in streaming profits next year could. Disney’s streaming unit, which includes Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, posted a modest profit in its most recent quarter.

But it’s hard to judge whether these gains are simply the result of creative accounting or an indication that the industry is evolving into something media companies can rely on. At the moment, streaming seems to be a long way from the enormous profits of cable bundles.

Fortunately, consumers can still benefit from the relatively low cost of streaming. Especially on a day like today.

(TVAnswerMan)