10 Ways To Save Streaming Services

While streaming services are starting to grow out of the reputation of being the young upstarts that everyone wants to be, television networks still have more credibility and more reach. Netflix had just shy of five million subscribers in the UK at the end of 2015, while almost every home in the country has a television licence, which brings us to Watership Down.

The BBC’s upcoming adaptation of the Richard Adams novel is being co-produced with Netflix, and has an all-star cast including Ben Kingsley, James McAvoy and Daniel Kaluuya.

With the series being broadcast on television, it has the potential to reach the millions of people across the country who don’t have a Netflix account, while the £20 million cost is being split between the BBC, Netflix, and producers Brown Bag Films. Short of it ending up as an Amazon Prime-level flop (more on that later), this is a slam dunk thanks in no small part to it being a collaboration.

By cutting deals with TV networks on new content, streaming services are building valuable business partnerships with more established and wider-ranging distributors, while standing to lose less if a series fails simply because less money is being spent.

Premium cable networks like Showtime have been doing it for years, and since streaming services run on the same subscription model, it makes sense to start adopting this approach more.