The streaming television industry got a little smaller this year as a handful of major companies and content rights holders either shut down or consolidated their operations, according to new data released by Parks Associates on Wednesday.
During the second quarter (Q2) of the year, ten streaming services tracked by Parks Associates effectively shut down, including Paramount’s BET Plus, which was folded into the company’s flagship service Paramount Plus.
Other services, like FIFA Plus, moved to DAZN while a service called RidePass transitioned from a premium product into a free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel, Parks noted.
FanDuel Sports Network was one of the few services to shut down entirely: Amid the demise of the company’s cable networks, its complementary streaming platform that allowed sports fans to watch live events with their cable or satellite credentials also closed.
Despite this, there are still plenty of streaming options on the market: Parks Associates’ proprietary Streaming Video Tracker showed a slight bump in streaming launches during the quarter, with nearly 340 individual services in the United States tracked by the markets intelligence firm.
The trend repeated in international markets, too, with Parks Associates noting Canadian service Crave absorbing the content libraries of CTV Throwback and Movies and a Spanish soccer platform being integrated into FC Barcelona’s platform.
“Streaming services continue to experiment with the best ways to reach and monetize audiences,” Michael Goodman, the Director of Entertainment Research at Parks Associates, said in a statement. “The movement of content from standalone apps to larger platforms and FAST channels shows how quickly distribution strategies are changing.”
Parks Associates is holding an industry webinar called “Streaming Video: Churn, Loyalty and Competition” on Thursday, September 24. Registration for the webinar is available by clicking or tapping here.
Parks Associates will also discuss proprietary insights from its Streaming Video Tracker and other products at the “Future of Video: Business of Streaming” conference taking place in Southern California later this year. The Desk is an editorial partner of Future of Video.
