VRV, a streaming service that aggregates subscription-based offerings from a number of nerdy media outlets, is now one year old. In order to celebrate its first birthday, it has announced a significant expansion of its content lineup. VRV will soon bring new subscription services, including one from CuriosityStream, into its fold. In addition, it has scooped up its first exclusive film deal by landing the streaming rights to the documentary Kingdom of Madness and Dreams.
For $9.99 per month, VRV subscribers gain membership to the premium tiers offered by companies like Rooster Teeth, Legendary, and Crunchyroll, the last of which serves as the foundational cornerstone on which VRV was built. The integration of CuriosityStream, whose plans normally begin at $2.99 and grant access to a library of science, nature, history, and tech documentaries, provides more value for the nerdy consumers VRV is targeting.
VRV General Manager Arlen Marmel told Tubefilter that the addition of new subscriptions pushes “the boundaries of these passionate fandoms.” Rather than appeal to a wide variety of consumers, VRV is hoping to give its geeky clientele the exact streaming experience they desire. The service wants to “be big, not broad” and form the “interstitial tissue” between the communities it serves.
Subscribe for daily Tubefilter Top Stories
Of course, for streaming services, the importance of original content cannot be ignored, and in addition to bundling together existing offerings, VRV is rolling out a few of its own. It launched its first exclusive programs when it picked up a few of the shows that had been left homeless after the shutdown of the NBCUniversal streaming service Seeso. Now, it is adding more films to the mix as well. In addition to Kingdom of Madness and Dreams, which follows Japanese master animator Hayao Miyazaki and his team at Studio Ghibli, VRV will add to its movie library by licensing titles from platforms like Hi-yah, Fandor, and GKids.
With all of these deals, VRV hopes it will continue to grow after notching 1.5 million registered users, 50 million video views, and more than a billion minutes of watch time in its first year (the company did not say how many of its users are paying customers.) It also has plenty more on its plate for 2018. It plans to launch on Apple TV, and it will bring in subscriptions from more companies, with Marmel describing the forthcoming partners as “well-known premium SVOD offerings.”
