BBC & ITV-Backed U.S. Streamer BritBox Hits 1M Subscribers

EXCLUSIVE: BritBox, the U.S. streamer backed by the BBC and ITV, has hit 1M subscribers. The service has doubled its take-up since January 2019.

The platform, which launched in March 2017, attributed its success to tapping into an “underserved” audience of women 45 years and older with a slew of British series. It noted that by “super-serving” this audience, it was also able to record low single-digit churn.

It has also been closing the gap between the time a show launches in the UK and its debut on BritBox with shows such as The Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special, nature doc series Spring Watch, Piers Morgan-fronted Good Morning Britain and political series Prime Minister’s Questions all airing day-and-date on the platform.

In addition to series such as Brenda Blethyn’s Vera, Kelly Macdonald’s The Victim and John Cleese’s Hold the Sunset, it has been increasingly moving into original commissions with shows such as Sister Boniface, a spinoff of Father Brown, and co-productions such as The Pembrokeshire Murders starring Luke Evans.

“This is an incredible milestone for our nimble team at BritBox,” stated Soumya Sriraman, CEO & President of BritBox. “Our content mix of known, now, and new British TV shows is a potent concoction of programming  which remains unbeatable.”

“Today is a real achievement from an ambitious SVOD service. Reaching the million mark means more people than ever are discovering BritBox’s rich offer of new and classic British shows. We look forward to BritBox continuing on this trajectory,” said Tim Davie, CEO BBC Studios.

“It’s great to see BritBox reach its landmark one millionth subscriber in North America. Subscribers really value and love the unique and unrivaled British TV content we offer. To achieve profitability in less than three years is also a fantastic achievement and is a boost to our international expansion plan,” added Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive, ITV.