Dive Brief:

• Independent craft brewery BrewDog announced via a news release the launch of a new subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) network, The BrewDog Network. To promote the offering, the brewery unveiled Beer.Porn, a parody porn site that includes trailers for several of the network's original series and "beer porn" clips. 
• The BrewDog Network will feature beer, food, travel and entertainment shows, with new content added weekly and new series premiering quarterly. Programming will include 14 original series, including "Four Sheets," a comedy about global drinks culture; "Are You Smarter than a Drunk Person?," hosted by Alison Becker of "Parks & Recreation"; William Shatner's "Brown Bag Wine Tasting"; and several documentaries. 
• The network is the brainchild of BrewDog's founders James Watt and Martin Dickie, who previously hosted their own show on Esquire Network, according to Deadline. When NBCUniversal canceled the venture, they decided to take video-on-demand to a "new level," according to a statement in the release. Subscriptions to BrewDog Network are $4.99 per month and offer unlimited, ad-free access to content. 

Dive Insight:

The video streaming market is growing increasingly crowded, and BrewDog Network is looking to make a mark by offering themed content around a niche hobby — all things craft, including beer and food — and the perspective of a company in the industry rather than a media entity. Promoting the new service via a porn parody site is a cheeky promotional play that leans into the idea of "product porn" and helps to give a sense of the tone that BrewDog's original series will go for. While it might sound unusual for a brand to launch a dedicated subscription streaming service, Watt and Dickie have experience in the space given their prior efforts on the now-defunct Esquire Network, which shuttered in June of last year.    

With the move, BrewDog is also hoping to capitalize on the current surge in popularity of craft beer. Production volumes for craft labels were up 5% last year, according to data from the Brewers Association cited by Forbes. Sales accounted for 23.4% of the overall beer market. However, some of that growth may be slowing as the market becomes more saturated. It remains to be seen if BrewDog Network can hold viewers' interest over the long term and as consumer preferences for wines and spirits grow. 

Video streaming platforms have relied on original programming and exclusive content to attract subscribers, who are more frequently cutting the cord on linear cable TV packages. Sixty-nine percent of U.S. households subscribe to one of the major SVOD platforms — Netflix, Amazon or Hulu — an increase over 52% in 2015, according to Leichtman Research Group data cited by Deadline. Nearly half (43%) of households have more than one service, up from 20% in 2015

However, the number of streaming subscriptions available can be overwhelming for consumers. A recent PwC survey found that 75% of consumers can't handle using more than four streaming services in addition to pay TV, and most only watch two regularly.