Should Acorn TV Join AMC+?

Acorn TV is a popular streaming service that focuses on high-quality content from England. AMC Networks owns Acorn TV, but it also owns AMC+, which includes the full libraries of smaller (standalone) streamers Shudder, IFC Films Unlimited, and Sundance Now.

Adding Acorn TV would make AMC+ stronger, but would it backfire?

The only real history we have of something like this is when Paramount Global shut down the standalone SHOWTIME app and folded it into Paramount+. Paramount reported it had a combined 77.3 million subscribers to end 2022, but that included Paramount+, SHOWTIME, Noggin, BET+, and others. That number included 55.9 million for Paramount+ and 21.4 million for all the others. Since then, the company stopped reporting separate numbers.

As of the end of 2024, Paramount+ reported 77.5 million. So if they lost people by killing off SHOWTIME’s standalone app, they’ve gained them back. Also, Paramount+ revenue increased 69% in 2023 and another 16% in 2024. Clearly, the strategy is working.

As a user, I’ve been happy that Paramount combined the services. It makes the ad-free version of Paramount+ significantly better. I do wish they’d invest more in mature content for the SHOWTIME side, though.

The big difference between Paramount+ adding SHOWTIME and AMC+ potentially adding Acorn TV is that the SHOWTIME content fits really well with the rest of the Paramount+ library. AMC+ is already a mess of a streaming service. Shudder’s huge horror library doesn’t really fit with an independent film collection. The AMC TV network barely produces anything outside “The Walking Dead” and a few Anne Rice vampire shows. One of AMC’s greatest linear hits – “Mad Men” – seems to stick out like a sore thumb on AMC+.

Adding the Acorn TV library would make AMC+ more of a “junk drawer” of content than it already is. There’s good stuff, but I don’t see a lot of audience overlap. Someone watching a blood-soaked serial killer movie from Shudder probably wouldn’t care about an AMC drama like “Halt and Catch Fire.”

If AMC+ had stronger libraries of genres beyond horror, like a strong lineup of dramas, kids shows, and comedies, Acorn TV would be an easier fit. As it stands, Acorn TV users would probably revolt if they had to pay for the AMC+ library.

One option to explore would be if AMC+ subscribers could unlock the Acorn TV library for an additional price. But again, the audiences probably don’t overlap.

If you’re the kind of person who does like both libraries, you can bundle AMC+ and Acorn TV for $11.99 through Prime Video.

The company’s Chief Commercial Officer Kim Kelleher recently claimed AMC networks is “not ‘something for everyone,’ but we’re everything to someone.” Based on the available library, that’s a very strange statement.

If I were running AMC Networks, I would spend the next several years building up the non-horror options for AMC+. Only when AMC+ is a strong option for all audiences would any addition of Acorn TV make sense.