Jesse Watters isn’t known for his athletic prowess, but he may be a hit with streaming sports fans all the same.
When Fox Corp. initially launched its new Fox One streaming service in the fall of last year, executives steeled themselves for a wave of sign-ups by cord-cutters who were eager to stream the company’s popular fall football package. After pigskin season ended, these people reasoned, activity might dwindle for a little while.
Instead, Fox executives have been surprised to see football fans stick around for a chance to check out Fox News Channel programs like “Jesse Watters Primetime” and “The Five.”
During the company’s recent fiscal third quarter “over half of the viewership on Fox One” came from people watching news, said Lachlan Murdoch, Fox’s CEO, on a call with investors. He added: “We’re really not seeing a tremendous amount of churn within Fox One to date, so we’re very pleased with that.” Fox has not released subscriber totals for the nascent service.
Fox’s efforts to cater to a digitally savvy cohort to boost the fortunes of its news operations will no doubt be watched by other mainstream TV-news outlets. Versant’s MS NOW plans to launch a new subscription offering that will aim at its “community” of users, executives from the company said during a recent investor call. Warner Bros. Discovery’s CNN estimates that its digital users are about a decade younger than viewers of its mainstay cable operation. The company says subscribers to its new subscription offering are “pacing ahead” of targets.
