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(Courtesy BrewDog)
Last year BrewDog launched its own network featuring original content for $4.99. Now after at least one re-invention that service is free.
Here’s the deal …
In 2018 BrewDog launched a video-on-demand subscription service offering a mix of original content and some acquired shows, available in the US and throughout Europe. Like many of BrewDog’s maniacal concepts it was an ambitious idea from the start.
But unlike so many of the Scotland-headquartered brewer’s ideas, the launch of the BrewDog Network as a $4.99 subscription service didn’t generate the audience the company had hoped for.
In May of 2019 the streaming video-on-demand service broadened its scope to include spirits, wine, travel and adventure, changed its name to Drink TV and lowered its monthly price to $2.99.
But those moves didn’t grow subscribers either.
And now the BrewDog Network has returned to its roots and relaunched itself as a free streaming service now available everywhere.
We’re not surprised that the original vision for the brewery’s beer-branded network failed. In the growing world of streaming options its $4.99 monthly subscription charge was too expensive by, well, $4.99. Hell, Disney’s new steaming service only costs $6.99 a month and for that you get the Star Wars spinoffs like The Mandalorin.
And isn’t asking your fans to pay for your video content potentially cutting into money they could be spending on your core product, beer?
Plus streaming is about variety, people are willing to pay for that…Not niche subjects, and videos that might seem like nothing more than thinly veiled promotions for the network doing it.
But a FREE BrewDog Network changes everything. The brewery can just have fun, blatantly hype itself and build its fan base…That kind of thing is right in BrewDog’s wheelhouse.
(Are You Smarter Than A Drunk Person? with Alison Becker)
BrewDog makes uber-clever videos (American Craft Beer has featured several). They’re youthful and savvy marketers and the company’s co-founders are excellent frontmen for the brewery, so why not their own free streaming platform?
Current content on the network includes the BrewDog Show, featuring our co-founders James and Martin and their adventures in brewing around the world, alongside shows like Are You Smarter Than A Drunk Person? with Alison Becker, Craft Beer Adventure Club with Josh Hindley, and The Nerdy Bar Tender with Stacey Roy.
And the BrewDog Network will be growing its roster of shows going forward and offering a series of apps for mobile devices and connected TVs so you can stream the content wherever you are in 2020.
