CBS Chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves is again talking up the importance of Star Trek: Discovery. He is quoted today in a Bloomberg Businessweek article on the future of CBS All Access saying:

“Looking at the future of CBS, streaming and OTT”—over-the-top content, industry jargon for internet-only media—“is a very important part of it,” he says. “There’s real upside for our company to have All Access be successful. There’s a lot riding on Star Trek.”

Based on this report and industry analysis, the CBS plan to “target niches of passionate fans” to spur the growth of CBS All Access appears to be working. From Bloomberg:

To date, All Access has racked up about 2 million customers. The average age of its subscribers is almost 20 years younger than the typical prime-time CBS viewer, whose median age is 61, according to Nielsen Co. Executives say that, with the help of Discovery, All Access can blow past its target of 4 million customers by 2020. Future seasons are likely, Moonves says.

The most recent estimates of All Access Subscribers before the launch of Discovery were closer to 1.5 million. CBS has stated that they have had record signups around the launch of Discovery, but the key test for the streaming service will be to keep those “passionate fans” around when there is no new Star Trek content.

All Access has announced a number of new original shows including a new comedy (No Activity), launching the same day as Discovery wraps up its 2017 run of nine episodes on November 12th. Discovery returns in January 2018 with six more episodes, and All Access has announced a number of new shows for 2018, but executive producer Alex Kurtzman has warned that a second season of Discovery may not be available until early 2019.

For more read the full feature article on CBS All Access at Bloomberg Businessweek.

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusive in the US on CBS All Access with new episodes released Sundays at 8:30 pm ET. In Canada Star Trek: Discovery airs on the Space Channel at the same time. Discovery is available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada with new episodes made available Monday at 8 am BST.

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.