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Gen-X, Millennial Media Opps: Discovery launches new streaming service called Discovery+

Discovery launched a new streaming service called Discovery+ on January 4th 2021. It is currently available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV,  iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Android phones, Google TV, Android TV, Google Chromecast, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X and Samsung Smart TVs. It is streaming over 55k exclusive and original episodes from HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Animal Planet, A&E, Lifetime, History Channel, Travel channel and more. Users can subscribe to the service for $4.99 a month or the ad-free for $6.99. This is huge for the company as TV networks struggle to remain relevant in the cord-cutting age. Discovery+ has allocated a massive budget towards promoting its launch, which I predict will continue as it builds brand awareness. 

Discovery+ began placing digital ads back in 2019 spending around $3.7k that year, per Pathmatics. It ramped spending up big time in 2020 as it earned 897.7m impressions through desktop video ads (74%), desktop display ads (22%) and mobile display ads (4%). It placed the majority (82%) of these ads site direct onto sites such as yahoo.com, washingtonpost.com, cnn.com, youtube.com and finance.yahoo.com. It placed the remainder (18%) through a variety of indirect channels onto sites such as reddit.com, cnn.com, yahoo.com, finance.yahoo.com and news.yahoo.com. It spent around $8.9m in 2020; it already spent $9.9m in 2021. 

Magellan reports Discovery+ placed around 70 podcast ads over the last year. 

According to iSpot, the streaming service began placing national TV ads in December 2020 and has spent around $10.2m so far. It placed ads during programming such as "NFL Football," "College Football," "College Basketball," "The Masked Dancer" and "Good Morning America." 

Sellers-- Discovery+ seems to be targeting a wide range of consumers at launch, but I predict it will narrow its target audience down in the future. Gen-Z and millennials seem like the most likely target; although, Discovery+'s content likely will appeal to Gen-Xers as well. Parent company Discovery also invests in OOH, print and radio ads, per Kantar. Discovery+ will likely sustain a high level of ad spend for the foreseeable future as it builds brand awareness. Sellers should reach out offering relevant ad space. 

Agency & martech readers-- Discovery has an in-house team working on creative, media planning, marketing partnerships and brand activation. Discovery shows no signs that it is planning a review any time soon. You may still be able to pick up work for Discovery+, so reach out soon to be considered.