SVOD services are striking deals with airlines to give passengers a taste of their service. Paramount+ joins the fray with a full-catalog deal, while Peacock and Apple TV+ offer a selection.
850 million captive viewers to good an opportunity to miss
In 2015, Netflix was the first SVOD service to partner with airlines to bring its branded content to inflight passengers on Virgin America. The approach was good for Netflix, allowing it to provide members with an additional benefit and help attract new customers. The approach makes even more sense now, and SVOD services are jumping on board the opportunity.
According to Airlines for America (A4A), 45% of Americans took a commercial flight in 2022, and 87% have taken at least one flight in their lifetime. Since many SVOD services are global providers, US airlines provide an even more enticing target since they carried 853 million passengers in 2022.
Since many people occupy their time on planes watching movies and TV shows, it provides a rare opportunity for SVOD services to command the complete attention of viewers. They can also tightly control access. So, offering free access on the plane is a safe way to let potential new customers try the service out. Services like HBO, Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ are taking advantage of the opportunity, and more are joining them.
A restricted set of a service’s library is typically hosted on the plane’s onboard entertainment system. Inflight internet connections do not usually have enough capacity and are not stable enough for everyone to stream video simultaneously. Providers tend to focus on their most popular titles, and, according to David Decker, president of Warner Bros. Discovery’s content sales, more relaxed viewing rather than complex psychological thrillers:
“When you’re alone on a plane for a couple of hours, you want to lean back, relax, and enjoy something.”
However, in some of the latest deals, the restrictions on Internet streaming are beginning to relax.
Paramount+ a leader with Delta Airlines deal
Jeff Shultz, Paramount, and Colin Dixon, nScreenMedia, at StreamTV Show 2023
Earlier this year, Paramount Global announced a unique partnership with Delta Airlines to bring Paramount+ to all Delta SkyMiles members on Delta flights. According to Jeff Shultz, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Business Development Officer for Paramount Streaming at Paramount Global, Delta is beefing up its inflight Internet connectivity so that everyone on the plane can stream HD video at the same time:
“Everybody is going to have access to the entire service inflight: 50 million people a year. And they are going to walk off the plane with a free trial.”
The opportunity to reach so many people with an unrestricted trial is a unique opportunity to appeal to new potential users:
“A funnel like that has never been created before.”
Peacock comes to JetBlue
A select set of Peacock content is already available on American Airlines flights via the plane’s inflight entertainment system. NBCU is bringing the same approach to JetBlue starting Monday when JetBlue passengers can watch a free selection of content from the service. JetBlue premium Mosaic members will get a one-year free subscription to the service (which they can use anywhere), and TrueBlue members can sign up for the service and receive 1,000 TrueBlue bonus points.
Existing Peacock subscribers can stream the full catalog of titles on their mobile devices via the plane’s high-speed Fly-Fi Internet service. However, they must pay $8 per flight segment for Internet access unless they have A-list preferred status, in which case Fly-Fi is free.
Apple TV+ comes to Air Canada
A selection of Apple TV+ titles is already free for passengers on American Airlines flights via the inflight entertainment systems. Now Apple has struck a similar deal with Air Canada. The airline is amidst a major upgrade of its inflight systems which will boost its capacity to 420+ movies, 1,000+ TV episodes, 130+ music albums, podcasts, and more. Top titles from Apple TV+ will be available on the system, including Ted Lasso, Bad Sisters, Severance, Foundation, and others.
It is unclear if existing Apple TV+ subscribers can stream the full catalog of shows over the plane’s Internet connection. Service starts at $6.50, and it looks like it does not support many people streaming video simultaneously:
“Because of capacity limitations, and depending on the terms of your Plan, the Service may not support file storage services, application downloads, software updates, software or file “syncing,” and other activities that reflect similar capacity usage or transmission patterns.”
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