Popular sitcom Schitt's Creek found its new home on Hulu after a bidding war with Netflix resulting in a deal worth millions of dollars.
As reported by Puck News, the rights to stream the hit series were moved from Netflix to Hulu for a reported cost of 1.2 million dollars per episode. A three-year deal was signed for all eighty episodes and Schitt's Creek will be available to stream exclusively on Hulu in October. The deal allows for producer Paramount Global, who originally distributed the show through Lionsgate, to stream Schitt's Creek on Paramount+ after two years on Hulu. A separate deal will be struck for free, ad-supported streaming rights, and after three years the rights for the show will revert to its stars and creators, Dan and Eugene Levy.
A Netflix source says that the price for Schitt's Creek is an "insane" amount to pay for a property that may have already experienced the peak of its relevancy. Although the show was not an immediate success upon its debut on Canadian television, Schitt's Creek was acquired by Netflix "for a steal" in its third season, which helped the show reach wider audiences.
Schitt's Creek won nine Emmy Awards in its sixth and final season and proved to be a popular hit as well. According to Parrot Analytics, Schitt's Creek generated seventeen times the demand of an average US television show during 2021, but an updated rating of only eleven times the average viewership from 2022 indicates that demand is currently on a downward trend.
Schitt's Creek's departure from Netflix was announced on May 1, though it will still be available on the streaming service until Oct. 3. "We can’t wait to share the award-winning, blisteringly funny, yet heartwarming series and characters with our subscribers," said Hulu president Joe Earley. "We know they’ll fit in nicely."
Schitt's Creek follows the Rose family as they grapple with losing their fortune and are forced to relocate to a small town called Schitt's Creek that they once purchased as a joke. As a recognizable, binge-worthy television series, it joins other sitcoms in Hulu's catalog like Friends and The Office that similarly left Netflix for a competing streaming service.
The deal stipulates that Hulu will stream Schitt's Creek for three years, but the series will also be available on Paramount+ in that third year as well. Though Netflix's once-powerful grasp on the streaming market continues to weaken, it will keep the rights to stream Schitt's Creek in several territories outside the United States.
Schitt's Creek is available to stream on Netflix until Oct. 3.
Source: Puck News
