A U.S. domestic only platform last year, Starz has managed to expand into fifty countries in the past year and today reports they plan to double that growth internationally over the next two years.
The Starzplay service is currently available in parts of Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, and COO Jeffrey Hirsch said during the TCA’s today that they’ve already established a subscriber base and a globally recognized brand, and are now pursuing projects than can “service the global footprint”.
He also goes on to say companies don’t have to spend a fortune on content like Netflix to succeed either, and the aim is to be a supplement to rather than a competitor of the big giants like Netflix and Amazon:
“Netflix has done a phenomenal job of convincing everyone in this room and everyone on Wall Street that unless you spend $13B you can’t compete and you should just take your ball and go home, but that’s just not the case. Ultimately, I think people will have four or five services in their home and Starz has always been, as HBO and Showtime, that premium on top of basic television. If Netflix, Hulu and Amazon are trying to replace television, we’re again happy to be sold on top of it.”
The show will also have a female-focused strategy in the near future, as the service has a “core premium female audience”. That’s partly why shows like “Now Apocalypse” and “Counterpart” were cancelled. Starz’s ongoing series include “Outlander,” “Power,” “American Gods,” “Sweetbitter,” “Vida,” “The Rook” and “The Girlfriend Experience” and has the “John Wick” spin-off “The Continental” in the works. Past series include “Black Sails,” “Power,” “Spartacus” and “Da Vinci’s Demons”.
Source: Deadline
