Streaming Platforms Offer Steep Black Friday Deals To Encourage Subscriber Growth

Hulu is reviving one of its most deeply discounted sales just in time for Black Friday. The Disney-helmed service offers new and eligible returning customers a year of streaming for 99 cents per month. At only $11.88 a year, this is an 85% discount from the regular monthly price of $6.99 and a $72 savings over the 12 months. The heavily slashed ad-supported plan is a throwback to a 2018 Thanksgiving deal from the streamer.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the push — which included a rollout on ABC’s Good Morning America — is likely a response to the quarterly earnings report in early November, which revealed that Disney experienced “slower-than-anticipated” subscriber growth across its Disney+ and Hulu properties. The former added just two million subscribers and Hulu only 700,000, for a total of 43.8 million.

But Hulu is not the only streaming service deploying this strategy. NBCUniversal also turned to its flagship morning program, the Today show, to alert audiences to its 50 percent off Peacock Premium for six months. The service is typically $4.99 per month. ViacomCBS’ Paramount+ is making one month of its premium plan — normally $9.99 — available for free. Viewers will have access to live NFL games and Star Trek: Discovery. Other deals include:

• AMC+ for $1.99 per month for a year (normally $8.99)
• Discovery+ for $0.99 per month for three months (normally $4.99)
• Six months of Starz for $20 (normally $43.99)

Notably absent is Netflix which does not offer Black Friday deals and also nixed its free trial period in the U.S. in 2020. Such steep discounts can be costly but Hulu makes considerable revenue through advertising, even on their most basic offering to the tune of $12.75 per user per month.

Whether the Black Friday strategy helps stimulate subscriber growth remains to be seen. A Deloitte study explored the “churn and return” phenomenon common among younger generations of millennials and Gen Z-ers. The concept involves canceling and then resubscribing to the same streaming video service within 12 months, causing subscription VOD providers to rethink retention strategies to curb churn rates.