We all know streaming services’ usual tricks for making more money: get more subscribers, charge those subscribers more money, and sell ads. But science streaming service Curiosity Stream is taking a new route that could reshape how streaming companies, especially niche options, try to survive.
Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks launched Curiosity Stream in 2015. The streaming service costs $40 per year, and it doesn’t have commercials.
The streaming business has grown to also include the Curiosity Channel TV channel. CuriosityStream Inc. also makes money through original programming and its Curiosity University educational programming. The firm turned its first positive net income in its fiscal Q1 2025, after about a decade of business.
With its focus on science, history, research, and education, Curiosity Stream will always be a smaller player compared to other streaming services. As of March 2023, Curiosity Stream had 23 million subscribers, a paltry user base compared to Netflix’s 301.6 million (as of January 2025).
Still, in an extremely competitive market, Curiosity Stream’s revenue increased 41 percent year over year in its Q3 2025 earnings announced this month. This was largely due to the licensing of Curiosity Stream’s original programming to train large language models (LLMs).
“Looking at our year-to-date numbers, licensing generated $23.4 million through September, which … is already over half of what our subscription business generated for all of 2024,” Phillip Hayden, Curiosity Stream’s CFO, said during a call with investors this month.
Thus far, Curiosity Stream has completed 18 AI-related fulfillments “across video, audio, and code assets” with nine partners, an October announcement said.
The company expects to make more revenue from IP licensing deals with AI companies than it does from subscriptions by 2027, “possibly earlier,” CEO Clint Stinchcomb said during the earnings call.