The Walking Dead: Would You Pay to Watch it on PPV?

Now that Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462 is on part 8,159 an important question must be asked… Would you have simply paid to watch the full thing in its entirety in the beginning?

The teaser-episodic experiment, serving up mini bite size portions of Fear the Walking Dead has been airing for months now. It’s likely not all audience members truly remember where the whole thing started anymore. It’s been a fascinating test to see how much of the viewers’ attention spans is retained from these trailer-like sequences.

Be honest. If this spinoff was simply announced as paid content (one time pay or subscription service), would you have not chipped in to see the whole deal uninterrupted? What should have been a memorable special has been arguably hurt by cutting down on what the viewer gets to actually witness.

Related Story: The Walking Dead Season Finale will be 90 Minutes Long

The Netflix Argument

In 2014, House of Cards brought 4 million new subscribers to Netflix in its first fiscal quarter alone. The company passed $1 billion dollars in revenue for the first time in the same quarter.

AMC has been quietly building up its television ratings war chest of properties over the last few years. Key shows like The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul are world class television being served to millions weekly. On the same level of quality as premium based channels like HBO.

Premium Content

Not that it’s going to happen anytime soon, but if the Season finale of the mainline Walking Dead series was announced to be PPV/Subscription only, how many would realistically tune out? Probably, not many. Sure, the audience would backlash against such a move publicly, likely complain on social media. Privately though, there would be at least a million subscribers overnight. If it was even simply seeing the episodes one day before it aired on television, fans would rush with their wallets open.

However, you’d potentially lose new fans who’d never discover the series. It’s a possibility, until the Ace in the Hole is revealed. The wildcard, commercial free viewing. That of course means less advertiser money on first glance, but not necessarily a guarantee. Every company from the WWE to Funimation have been experimenting with their own subscription based service. The results show if the price is right and the offer is substantial the people will subscribe.

AMC Subscription Service: The Future?

Imagine, live commercial-free new Walking Dead episodes every week for say $7-10 dollars a month. No ads, just action. No bite size segments, just subscriber hour-long specials.

Would you pay for an AMC paid subscription service at this point in time? Do you belive in PPV-style content or a hub for all things Walking Dead, Better Call Saul? Worth the expense, or causing too much expense? Obviously a split of the haves and have nots of a luxury service would turn away a portion of viewers. Some would never pay no matter what, while others would leap at the opportunity.

Similar to the divide between the Blu-ray/DVD collection buyers and those who catch the reruns on cable. Yes, the option is open to exploitation, shutting non-premium viewers out. To play Governor’s advocate, it can also open the door to unlimited possibilities. A steady cashflow means green lighting creative content we may never get to watch otherwise.

Next: Walking Dead S06E14 Preview: Carol’s Awakening

Comment below, and let us know how you feel about paid Walking Dead content.

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