• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 13, 2023

The streaming formula factoring in the amount of content at a major streaming service versus the monthly price keeps getting more complicated.

Former Fox News Channel top host Tucker Carlson, now free from the reins of the politically conservative channel, is starting up his own streaming platform with a promo price of $6 a month -- going to $9 per month.

Although this is comparing apples and oranges, the Netflix advertising option's regular price -- in a rough comparison -- is two dollars cheaper ($6.99/month).

Does this tell you anything about the marketplace?

Pricing considerations in the streaming world are all over the map. But increasingly consumers may be thinking how much they are getting in terms of actual content. 

One report from Ampere Analysis says a combined Disney+ and Hulu offer some 9,578 TV series and movies -- only outdone by Amazon Prime Video at more than 10,872 as of the third quarter 2023.

Just looking at Disney+ alone, it has 2,525 TV series and movies. So should Prime Video be priced at four times the level of Disney+?

We know that popular and usually current content -- TV series and movies -- may be the most important factor for streaming consumers these days. But the breadth of perceived content must be a close second.

Despite dominant leadership headlines for Netflix, Disney+/Hulu has 33 of the top 100 streaming shows -- a higher number than Netflix (29) and Max (18).

In Carlson’s case, there are loyal followers built up from his years on the  Fox News Channel. At his best, his primetime show averaged some 4 million average viewers a night. If Carlson got to that level -- viewers turned into subscribers, roughly with the standard monthly pricing of $9.00 -- that would result in $36 million a month and $432 million a year. 

Perhaps his advisors are conservatively estimating this may reach a quarter or a third of that prime-time viewer average -- especially given all the subscription products consumers now regularly buy. 

If consumers are already buying a wide range of subscriptions -- not limited to entertainment video streaming -- it would need to consider where it fits in among an entire’s household’s package of say Netflix, Spotify, Peloton, AMC+, whatever.

The Carlson Network will feature “unlimited access to 5 brand-new shows, speeches, films, and more from Tucker Carlson,” in addition to behind-the-scenes footage, documentaries and a weekly question/answer session.

Is that enough?