The curious growth in the streaming power of factual

Back in August, CuriosityStream, a subscription video service specialising in factual content, announced a merger agreement with Software Acquisition Group, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). This enabled CuriosityStream common stock to be listed on the NASDAQ without going through the expensive,  and regulatorily onerous process of a traditional Initial Public Offering (IPO). This process was completed last month. In its first Q3 earnings report as a public company, CuriosityStream Inc announced that it has 13 million global subscribers spread across both its direct-to-consumer (D2C) business and its carriage deals with traditional linear pay-TV distributors. Its competitively-priced subscription plans ($2.99/month or $19.99/year) are helping it to establish itself as the home of premium factual programming among older pay-TV demographics increasingly disillusioned with the pivot to reality TV by Discovery and A+E Networks.

Why SPACs matter in the world of factual

The SPAC route enables companies to both fundraise by selling equity on public markets and engage in commercial borrowing at rates unavailable to private companies without the cost and regulatory oversight required of traditional IPOs. This has enabled a fast-growing yet loss-making company to add significant funds to accelerate its growth, while bypassing sensitive questions such as the ratio of D2C to channel add-on subscribers, and domestic versus international in its 13 million subscriber number. Instead, the company can focus on the positive story around an 83% year-over-year (YoY) increase in revenue and a YoY doubling of subscribers.

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