The revival of “Twin Peaks,” which premiered last Sunday, has helped Showtime dramatically boost signups for its OTT streaming service.
According to Deadline, Showtime’s plan to offer the first four episodes of “Twin Peaks” through its OTT platforms—while only the first two aired on the linear network—helped push the biggest single day and weekend performance for signups the platforms have ever seen.
“In the world that we live in now, offering original programming that attracts new subscribers is our primary business objective,” Showtime Networks President and CEO David Nevins told the publication, adding that “Twin Peaks” was the biggest single-night driver ever for Showtime.
RELATED: Showtime OTT hits 1.5M subs, CBS All Access not far behind
Offering exclusive content on its OTT platforms is part of the growth strategy for CBS, which is also offering exclusive series on its CBS All Access platform including “The Good Fight” and the upcoming “Star Trek: Discovery.”
CBS has set ambition growth targets for both services. The broadcaster plans to have 8 million combined subscribers for Showtime OTT and All Access by 2020. CBS hasn’t offered up any subscriber numbers recently for the services, but reports that surfaced in February said Showtime OTT had about 1.5 million subscribers and that All Access’ total subscribers weren’t far behind.
As CBS CEO Les Moonves had hinted, CBS recently began offering All Access and Showtime OTT together as a package with a slightly reduced price of $14.99 per month. Consumers can also buy CBS All Access' commercial free plan and Showtime for $18.99 per month.
Individually, All Access sells for $5.99/month with commercials and $9.99/month without, while Showtime OTT is priced at $10.99/month. So either package only knocks about $2 off the total price for both, but it’s a discount nevertheless.