Verizon, positioning itself as a “neutral” player in the content and streaming landscape, is continuing to expand its subscription hub, +play, through new partnership deals with Peloton and Starz.
On Monday, the telecom giant said Verizon customers who are new to Peloton can receive a four-month free trial of the Peloton app through +play through the end of the month. Last week, ahead of the premiere of BMF, the company also added Starz as the latest streaming service available on the platform.
+play is Verizon’s answer to all-in-one content hubs offered by companies like Roku, Amazon’s Prime Video Channels and YouTube’s Primetime Channels, which allow users to have a streamlined platform to purchase, manage and access their streaming subscriptions. Verizon’s platform — available for Verizon phone and internet users — had its beta launch in December with services like HBO Max, NFL+, NBA League Pass and AMC+, as well as a continued partnership with Disney for its streaming bundle and a year-long free subscription to Netflix for users who subscribed to another service on +play. Outside of film and TV entertainment, +play includes educational and wellness services like Duolingo and Calm, allowing the hub to cater to a wider breadth of interested users.
Verizon Chief Content Officer Erin McPherson said the plan is not for the company to “aggregate the world’s apps” but to offer a curated experience for Verizon customers with bundled deals across genres. As an example, McPherson said she could imagine an opportunity to bundle a service like Duolingo with Verizon’s TravelPass, a data, talk and text plan for international travelers.
“You’re getting ready for that trip to Italy; we could provide something special for you and the family to learn Italian and make sure that you’re connected over there with TravelPass,” McPherson said. “That’s just an example, not something that exists yet, but it’s illustrative … [of] the way that we’ll optimize +play with our offers to customers by being able to really create custom promotions for different customers needs.
In total, McPherson predicts +play will include roughly 50 services across categories like gaming, music, lifestyle and entertainment.
“We are neutral. We don’t own a content company. We are a distribution and marketing partner and, of course, we have millions and millions of customers … so we’ve got a scaled solution where we already have a very trusted one-to-one billing relationship with customers,” McPherson said, pointing to Verizon’s 120 million-plus U.S. customers. “We sit in this position to really be a partner of choice for the programming community.”
Alex Weprin contributed to this report.
