Reportedly, Comcast Corporation’s CMCSA NBCUniversal division – commonly known as NBCU – has announced its intent to launch an online video service which will offer comedy shows on demand. Comcast’s purpose to launch a web-based comedy service in the later part of 2015 clearly hints at its intent to target young viewers.
The comedy service will feature NBC shows like The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live. Comcast plans to invest in the original series and may charge anything between $2.50 and $3.50 a month for the package.
Comcast has also weighed options to launch web TV services that would be genre specific. For instance, for horror-themed options, the company may consider programs from NBCUniversal’s cable channel – Chiller. Meanwhile, NBCUniversal has been testing ways of generating the best response from the target audience, i.e., viewers under 35 years of age. However, among the many, only the comedy service has reached the stage of finalization.
We believe that this service will not only help the company gain video subscribers but will also drive revenues at NBCUniversal. Lately, the company has been losing video subscribers. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2014, the company had 22.383 million customers, down 0.9% year over year.
The soon-to-be-launched comedy service will also likely safeguard the company’s position against the likes of CBS Corporation CBS, Viacom, Inc. VIAB and Dish Network Corp. DISH. In 2014, CBS launched a subscription-based online video service for $5.99 per month. Similarly, in February, Viacom’s Nickelodeon division launched a video streaming service called Noggin for pre-schoolers.
Comcast currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
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