For Some Streamers, Global Expansion May Not Be Possible Without Rebranding

Will NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock take flight in international markets? Maybe not, according to Business Insider and The Information, which reported that NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell considered at one point debuting the platform internationally under a different brand, potentially named Universal Stream, after its movie studio, Universal. (A company spokesperson declined to comment about the rumors.) NBCUniversal has not yet unveiled its international rollout strategy, and is less than a year into the debut of its U.S.-based streaming service Peacock, which rolled out nationwide in July. But the speculation around the name of the company’s international streaming ambitions raises questions about the obstacles media companies face as they look to scale globally and capture the attention of consumers across a vast lineup of international markets. 'What is the brand equity?' “All of these companies when they’re launching these DTC services are weighing, what is the brand equity?” said Steve Nason, a research director at Parks Associates who specializes in entertainment content and services. ”And if I don’t have an established brand internationally, how much money and effort and time do I put into establishing that brand—and is it worth it?” The international market represents a tremendous opportunity for streaming services that are looking to scale up quickly and compete with OTT giants like Netflix, which counts nearly two-thirds of its 203 million-plus global subscribers from markets outside the U.S. and Canada. But there are very few services, save for Discovery+, that have been able to make the international jump without considering or following through on a brand refresh of some kind. Most recently, ViacomCBS rebranded its CBS All Access streaming service to Paramount+ earlier this month specifically to court international consumers. “Paramount is the most well-known brand we have globally, and it sits up there at the top of big entertainment brands,” former chief digital officer of ViacomCBS and CEO and president of CBS Interactive Marc DeBevoise told Adweek last fall. “Movies have been going around with that curtain-raiser brand on them for 100 years. There’s so much equity in that brand, that name and that logo.” Other services, like Disney, have international name recognition, but are facing their own challenges. The company opted to keep its Hulu brand U.S. only, it announced last year, and is instead expanding adult programming internationally under its Star brand, which is already a household name in major markets like India. That expansion is structured two-fold: Disney is both launching a Star hub within the Disney+ in some markets, and in others like Latin America, is debuting a standalone Star+ branded service, the company said in December during an investor presentation. (NBCU parent Comcast still retains a minority stake in Hulu, and the company is licensing out content to the service until at least 2024.) To rebrand or not to rebrand? NBCUniversal’s looming decision about how to strategize an international expansion mirrors ViacomCBS’: both companies have movie studios that have been distributing their films internationally for decades. That can be a strength in some ways, as streamers look to claw back the rights to their licensed programming and bring it back home to their own services. But picking a brand tied to a movie studio may have its downsides. “Ask anyone either here or anywhere, which Paramount Pictures movies have you seen this year?” Nason said. “I don’t know which movie comes from Paramount Pictures, from Universal, from MGM.” For NBCUniversal, the Universal name also comes with other complicating factors. Universal is associated with so many brands—including the company’s parks business and Universal Music Group. It would also mean waving goodbye to the uniqueness of the Peacock name, which stood out when it was first announced for bucking the naming conventions that have taken hold of the streaming industry. “At some point internationally, people weren’t familiar with Coke, they weren’t familiar with Nike, they weren’t familiar with Microsoft, they weren’t familiar with Apple, but through every marketing and promotion and other efforts, they became household brand names,” Nason said. “So why not try build that brand up internationally?”