Horror streaming service announces milestone

Streaming service Shudder announces that its programme diet of horror, sci-fi and thrillers has attracted at least a million subscribers.

Witchdoctor has been closely watching Shudder since it became available to stream in New Zealand a couple of months back, and its horror-loving Editor-in-chief Gary Steel has been gorging on the gore (see those reviews here).

Now, the AMC Networks subscription service announces that Steel isn’t the only one. In fact, the “premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, announced today it has surpassed a major milestone and is now streaming to more than one million members.”

Shudder saw a surge in usage and new memberships that began with the debut of its original series Creepshow last September, and has continued throughout 2020 with its second hit original series, Cursed Films, and a lineup of acclaimed original films that include The Room, Z, The Beach House and Host, among others.

“The addition of original series and movies turbocharged our growth and turned Shudder into a must-have service for anyone interested in great horror, thriller or supernatural entertainment,” says Miguel Penella, AMC Networks SVOD President. “Our relentless focus on quality programming, innovative content and finding the best up-and-coming creators has enabled Shudder to break out in the crowded world of subscription services. Shudder’s success comes as our other targeted SVOD services – Acorn TV, Sundance Now and UMC – continue their strong subscriber growth momentum by super-serving passionate fans with the content they love the most.”

Shudder has frequently been recognised as one of the best-targeted streaming services due to its quality collection of exclusives, originals and genre classics, and its unparalleled selection of independent horror films from around the world. According to Rotten Tomatoes, three of the top four horror films released in 2020 are Shudder films, including the number 1 movie of the year, the Zoom-based quarantine horror film Host, which was written and shot in just 12 weeks during quarantine.

Shudder’s first original scripted series, Creepshow, broke all of the streamer’s viewership records when it debuted in 2019, and finished as the top-reviewed new horror series across all networks and streamers that year. Creepshow is currently in production on Season 2. Meanwhile, Shudder’s hosted movie show The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs continued to be a social media phenomenon, with new episodes typically trending #1 on Twitter on the night they debut.

Shudder’s growth has also been fueled by a string of successful launches on new platforms and in new territories. In August, Shudder debuted in Australia and New Zealand, further expanding its international reach which includes the U.S., Canada, Germany, the UK, and Ireland. In the U.S., Shudder has recently launched on Roku Channels, Charter/Spectrum, DISH and Sling.

Shudder is widely available through its own apps on web, mobile, Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and Xbox, as well as through Apple TV Channels in the US and Amazon Prime Video in the US, Canada and UK.

Shudder is the second of AMC Networks’ suite of SVOD services to surpass the one million subscriber milestone, following Acorn TV which reached that mark last September. Together, AMC Networks’ SVOD services are expected to reach between 3.5-4 million subscribers by year-end 2020.