Partnerships with pay television services are driving strong interest and engagement in the streaming platform AMC Plus, executives with AMC Global Media confirmed this week.
Specifically, arrangements with Charter’s Spectrum TV and streaming service Philo allow subscribers of their premium linear TV products to access the ad-supported version of AMC Plus at no extra cost if their packages contain one or more AMC-owned cable channels.
AMC’s pacts with Philo and Spectrum TV have resulted in 2.3 million AMC Plus activations since the deals were brokered, AMC Global Media CEO Kristin Dolan told investors on Thursday. That figure also includes viewers who have activated a subscription to ALLBLK, an AMC streaming service that offers Black-focused TV shows and movies.
Other content distributors are following suit: AMC recently renewed its agreement with DIRECTV that allows the pay TV company to bundle complementary access to AMC Plus with its genre-based streaming TV package called MyEntertainment, and other providers like Comcast and YouTube TV could do the same in the near future, Dolan said.
Specific to YouTube TV, Dolan noted AMC Global Media recently renewed its distribution agreement with the Google-owned cable TV alternative, keeping its channels in front of more than 10 million subscribers. The new deal also allows YouTube TV to eventually bring AMC’s cable networks and free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels to its lower-priced, genre-based packages for the first time since those plans were introduced in January.
“We take a long-range view of this business and the critical role our distribution partners play across all of our platforms, streaming, linear, and FAST,” Dolan said. “As streaming and linear continue to converge, an increasing number of viewers experience our services through hard-bundled arrangements. This combined distribution delivers additional value to the customer, strengthens our affiliate relationships, and builds revenue partnerships focused on the future.”
While AMC Global Media is holding onto its cable networks for now, Dolan made clear the company is betting its long-term future on streaming. AMC Plus and associated FAST channels have captured an outsized amount of attention in the company’s recent earnings reports and associated conference calls, in large part because streaming-related revenue has overtaken the affiliate fees that AMC Global Media earns from cable, satellite and streaming pay TV providers.
During its most-recent financial quarter, AMC Global Media earned $180 million in streaming-related revenue, up 6 percent compared to the prior year. Streaming-related revenue is largely focused on subscription sales to AMC Plus, ALLBLK and other services; it also includes the wholesale cost that services like Philo, Charter and DIRECTV are paying to offer bundled access to AMC Plus across their pay TV plans. (AMC Global Media is one of several media companies that has an ownership stake in Philo.)
By comparison, affiliate fees earned from the distribution of AMC’s networks on cable, satellite and other platforms fell 17 percent to $126 million during the quarter, the byproduct of ongoing churn affecting domestic traditional pay TV providers. Advertising revenue — which is associated with AMC Plus, AMC FAST channels, other streaming platforms and AMC’s cable networks — clocked in at nearly $109 million, down 11 percent.
