Optus is expanding its subscription management system, SubHub, adding educational streaming service Masterclass to its suite of offerings, and outlining plans to integrate existing Netflix subscribers.
“It is a phenomenal product,” Optus TV content vice-president Clive Dickens told AFR of Masterclass.
“It is the Netflix of education, the Netflix of self-improvement.”
Where SubHub currently falls short is with the Netflix of Netflix as users are currently unable to add their existing Netflix subs. This, according to Dickens, is because simply allowing new Netflix subscribers through the platform wasn’t ideal.
Instead, Optus worked with Netflix in order to manage existing subs through SubHub, which Dickens explained is a unique proposition in the Australian market.
“What that means is there are, I estimate, in excess of five million Australian homes that now subscribe to Netflix [actually over six million] and every single one of those homes, if they are an Optus customer, will be eligible to bring over their existing Netflix subscription into SubHub.
“That’s the first time in the world Netflix has ever developed the capability for someone to bring over their existing subscription into another subscription management platform.
“We wanted to make sure when we bring some of the biggest brands into SubHub then of course millions of Australians are eligible, at the moment its hundreds of thousands of customers who are eligible,” he said, of the Netflix delay.
SubHub launched in August, as part of Optus’ Living Network drive, which aimed to position Optus as an entertainment hub.
As Dickens said at the time: “The pitch is simple – in an increasingly complex and growing universe of digital content subscriptions, our customers tell us that they find it hard to keep track of exactly what subscriptions they have, are active, and how much they pay for them.
“With SubHub, we have turned the table on complexity with a single platform allowing customers to bundle their multiple new and existing subscriptions, enjoy them as they need them and pause them when they don’t, with just a few clicks.”
Although Optus won’t reveal user numbers, Dickens said, “the launch of products like SubHub, and Side Kick and Call Notes and the renewal of the EPL in December is a testament to the fact that clearly our strategy is working, otherwise we wouldn’t be extending investment into these areas quite as rapidly as we are.”
Optus recently extended a deal as the exclusive broadcaster of the English Premier League, with reports they outbid Paramount+, Stan, Amazon, and Foxtel, shelling out $80 million a season for the competition.