The news: Live-streamer Sling TV debuted day, weekend, and weeklong streaming passes as monthly subscription costs escalate.

• Consumers can buy a Day Pass for $4.99, a Friday-Sunday pass for $9.99, or a Week Pass for $14.99. Passes don’t auto-renew.
• All three passes offer access to the same 34 channels on Sling’s Orange package, including ESPN, TNT, A&E, Comedy Central, and more.

While not a discounted rate—monthly Sling packages work out to between $1.53 and $2.03 a day—it lets consumers tune in for live sports like a day of NCAA Sweet 16 games or events like an awards show.

“With college football just around the corner, our new Day Pass offering is all consumers need to win on game day,” said Seth Van Sickel, Sling TV senior vice president of product and operations.

From streamer to renter: Essentially, the short-term live-streaming packages are on-demand event rentals like UFC Fight Night but without prescribed events. This opens new data and revenue streams for advertisers.

• Consumers get to choose their live events, potentially boosting viewership for premieres and games.
• While that audience might have had to go to a restaurant or pub before, they can now watch from home at a low cost, giving advertisers more targeted viewer insights.

Something’s gotta give: Connected TV (CTV) streaming services are seeking new avenues to boost profits as consumers get tired of ever-rising prices and ad creep.

• Roku introduced Howdy, a $2.99 per month ad-free streaming service. It’s similar to the Roku Channel, Tubi, and Pluto TV, minus the ads.
• Disney+ and Hulu—soon to be just Disney+—released a perks program that gives members access to movie premieres, video game items, and free trials to DoorDash.
• YouTube offered a Premium Lite subscription for $7.99 a month that maintains ads only on music, downloads, and background play, which allows sound to continue when users switch apps.

Our take: Sling’s new option caters to the 51% of 18- to 34-year-olds who subscribe to a service for a specific show then cancel, per Ipsos.

If its short-term passes are successful, we can expect more streamers to follow suit and potentially offer popular IP for rent—think “Squid Game” on Netflix or “The Gilded Age” on HBO Max. That would allow advertisers to target specific, price-conscious audiences.