The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Aereo, while tiny, had grown its subscriber base by 40% in their final six months. When they closed up shop in June, they had about 108,000 subscribers, up from 78,000 in January 2014. They write:
In New York, Atlanta and Boston, Aereo’s subscriber base increased by more than 20% between December and June, the filings show. In New York, its first market, subscribers grew from about 27,000 to nearly 33,000. In Boston, its ranks grew from 12,000 to 14,700, and in Atlanta it grew from a little over 10,000 to 12,400 customers. All the customer numbers in the filings, moreover, represent paying customers on monthly plans rather than those on free trials or weekly or daily plans, which Aereo offered in its early days.
In comparison, Netflix Inc. grew its domestic customer base 11% to 35 million subscribers in the same time period. Comcast Corp.’s video customer base shrank by 0.5% to 22.5 million customers.
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It’s no wonder that major broadcasters are still upset that Aereo could sell its assets. They were small for sure, but not to be messed with. From the WSJ:
Major broadcasters have scoffed at Aereo’s small size. CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves said in August that Aereo got “a lot of attention for a service that virtually nobody was using.” Skeptics have questioned whether Aereo would have really garnered widespread consumer usage, since broadcast TV signals are already free over the air with an antenna.
Talk about an understatement. That last six months, as the company garnered name recognition, shows that people would pay for signals that were otherwise free, if they could be accessed anywhere and recorded. For $8 a month, there were perks. Alas, they won’t be refreshing the service, but one thing to watch is what happens as its sells its parts in February.