Bell Media announced today ad-supported tiers are coming to its streaming service Crave. Set to launch this summer, these new plans will offer viewers a variety of ways to access Crave’s growing catalogue of award-winning, premium content.
Detailed plan specifics, inclusive of pricing, are scheduled to be revealed during the launch.
“Crave sets itself apart from global competitors with its unbeatable content offering. We are elated to provide our subscribers with the increased flexibility and wider selection of ad-supported tiers, bringing Crave into alignment with current industry trends,” said Karine Moses, Senior Vice President Content and News at Bell Media and Vice-Chair Quebec, Bell, in a statement.
Upon launch, subscribers of all Crave plans will have access to premium content in both English and French. This includes hit series like “Friends”, “The Big Bang Theory”, and “The Office”; fresh and library HBO and Max Original programming; blockbuster movies; an expanding collection of children’s programming; and award-winning Crave Originals including “Letterkenny”, “Shoresy”, “We’re All Going to Die (Even Jay Baruchel)”, “Little Bird”, and “Canada’s Drag Race”.
“Today’s announcement addresses the increasing demand from advertisers to harness the influence of Crave. We are thrilled to provide our partners access to Crave’s desirable ad inventory, allowing them to showcase their brands in a premium setting,” added Bell Media Sales and Sports SVP, Stewart Johnston.
Crave also continues to be the exclusive Canadian streaming platform for all new Sony Pictures Entertainment feature films, following their theatrical and home entertainment release windows.
We’ve seen Netflix Basic with Ads pricing tiers, powered by commercials within shows and movies and at a discount. Now the same is coming from Crave. Would you be interested in an ad-supported subscription tier of Crave?
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I don’t mind commercials. What does annoying me is showing the same commercial over and over again! Why is only one commercial showing? It should be just like regular TV. It should be a variety of commercials. 👍
I would be if the price is under $8.
Sure they have plenty of content, but their apps and video quality suck.
I wouldn’t pay a discount supported by the inclusion of more ads, and I hate the idea of ads in the middle of shows and films. With episodes increasingly reaching the 1 hour mark, nobody needs a bunch of ads making them even longer.
What do you wanna bet the day this new ad supported plan comes out they raise the price of the others.
Other streamers are considering the same – especially those who have cranked their prices recently and have subsequently lost subscribers.
Content value ≠ Price.
Doubly so for Crave as a predominantly a re-broadcaster of other streamers’ content. There’s gonna come a time when the original broadcaster may wish to recoup losses by doing the streaming directly themselves.