Discovery launched its new streaming service Discovery + in the US on Monday, hoping to create its own non-scripted corner of the already busy streaming space.
Discovery +, previously launched in several other countries, calls itself “the definitive non-fiction, real-life subscription streaming service.” The library features over 55,000 episodes from over 2,500 TV brand shows including HGTV, Food Network, Animal Planet, TLC, ID, and more. It also offers original series and exclusive offers such as BBC’s “Planet Earth”.
The service has a monthly ad-supported tier of $ 4.99 (comparable to NBCUniversal’s Peacock premium tier with ads) and a monthly ad-free tier of $ 6.99 (which costs the same as Disney +). It also partners with Verizon to give 55 million customers 12 months of Discovery + for free, depending on their subscription. Other competitors include AT & T’s HBO Max, which costs $ 14.99 a month, and Netflix, which has a standard subscription that costs $ 13.99 in the US.
The service can be streamed with Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku and Samsung devices, as well as mobile, web and game consoles.
“Our # 1 goal was to be available on every platform in America,” David Zaslav, Discovery president and CEO, said Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk Alley.”
He added that he believes the service is different from its existing peers.
“We believe we’ll have the rest of that group fighting with scripts and script movies, but we have a great job in the US and around the world, and that job is to have great content that people love:” 90 Day Fiancé “Chip and Joanna Gaines, Oprah Winfrey,” he said. “And we are completely differentiated.”
He said that this will make the service complement popular existing services.
“We’re a great companion to Disney and Netflix,” he said. “If you have Disney or Netflix, you have two great products, but we are completely different and we fit in really well.”
Zaslav wouldn’t share forecasts on how much the company expects subscriber numbers to grow in the coming year.
“We think … we can be very, very big,” he said. “That’s our bet, we’ll put a lot of resources into it, and over the next few quarters we’ll report our numbers and then we’ll project how big it really is.”