Where will the Criterion collection land after FilmStruck? Criterion is determined to be independent. The Criterion Collection will not find its way onto another major streaming service like Netflix or Hulu. Instead it will be launching a new stand-alone service in 2019. What kind of numbers precipitated this decision? The Criterion collection never released any subscription numbers for Filmstruck, which was a venture with Turner. At The Streaming Advisor we felt that the probable audience for FilmStruck was too small to be sustainable. But fans of the Criterion collection swear by the quality of the films in the library.
Will a Criterion collection app work on its own? There must be some sort of model for success that we are currently unaware of. According to Engadget, Criterion will have to build a new subscriber base from the ground up. The service likely will be able to build from at least a contact list of its current FilmStruck subscribers. But the question is, do the current subscribers allow The Criterion Collection to make a proffit? New customers can jump into line here.
Maybe the issue with FilmStruck was not that it made no money as much as that it didn’t make enough money for Turner to continue its investment in the service. Considering its decision on other streaming services and properties it appears that Turner is in the process of slimming down. Here’s hoping that the new service finds a niche.
