Crave has reached about 4.6 million subscribers across Canada.
Bell confirmed the figure in its fourth-quarter earnings release on Thursday. The company noted that subscriptions rose by 26 per cent year-over-year, driven by late-November premiere of its massively popular Canadian LGBTQ+ hockey series,Heated Rivalry.
It quickly became not only Crave’s most-watched original series to date and led to the streamer’s biggest Q4 to date, but it’s also been a massive global hit,even getting big shoutouts from stars like Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us), Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) and Hannah Einbinder (Hacks). Series creator Jacob Tierney iscurrently working on a second season.
During an earnings call, Bibic noted that Heated Rivalry “has emerged as a global sensation, generating significant media attention and cultural impact and underscoring the strength of our investment in premium Canadian storytelling.”
It should also be noted thatCrave got a big overhaul in late November, adding a bunch of content while introducing new features and UI tweaks. That said, it’s unclear what impact, if any, that had on subscriber growth.
Elsewhere in its earnings, Bell posted 56,124 net postpaid wireless additions last quarter, down 0.8 per cent from 56,550 a year ago. The company attributed the decline to a slowing population growth amid evolving immigration policies and a focus on more premium telecom subscribers. Overall, Bell reported quarterly revenue of $6.4 billion, down 0.3 per cent from the year prior.
Image credit: Crave
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