Chick-fil-A Launching Streaming Service with New Shows & More
Rumors have been circulating since late last year that Chick-fil-A is developing its own streaming service, a claim the fast-food chain has been quick to deny. However, after getting an early look at the company’s actual plans, Fast Company is reporting that while it’s not a full-fledged streaming platform, it could be something even more significant.
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In late August, Deadline reported that Chick-fil-A was actively pursuing entertainment ventures, developing a range of original content for a potential proprietary streaming platform. The fast-food company was working with several major production companies, including some of the studios, to create family-friendly shows, according to sources close to the deals. The programming was said to include animated shows, reality shows, and game shows, with budgets reaching $400,000 per half-hour episode. The entire platform was expected to launch later this year.
So what is Chick-fil-A actually releasing? The answer is an app, called Chick-fil-A Play, which will be available on November 18. It offers scripted programming that Chick-fil-A fans won’t find anywhere else, along with family-focused games, activities, and entertainment options that reflect aspects of the brand that Chick-fil-A has been diligently working on for years.
The early look we got made it clear that if the Play app reaches its full potential, it could be a source not only for a wealth of original content (like Netflix and HBO), but also original audio series (like Gimlet Media and Wondery), ebooks (like Amazon Kindle), interactive games (like Nintendo), and cooking videos (like Bon Appétit’s Instagram and all those other viral food Reels).
What will be on Chick-fil-A Play?
The cows are back! Daisy, Sarge, and Carrots welcome users to the app and then pop up in other parts of the Play universe, such as in Go Go Cow, which Dustin Britt, Chick-fil-A’s executive director of brand strategy, entertainment, and media, explained is the digital racing game the company released on its website last summer, but now with “some enhancements.” The cows also appear in their own original shorts, the company adds. (It’s a safe bet that they’ll be reprising their roles as anti-beef crusaders trying to sabotage the Circus Burger chain’s expansion plans, a theme Chick-fil-A has been developing in recent shorts.)
The app will also feature family trivia and singing games, craft activities, cooking videos called “Recipe Remixes” that put a new spin on popular Chick-fil-A menu items, a joke generator that Britt warns is filled with dad jokes, and a library that will initially include 20 e-book titles, like Kate Messner’s Over and Under the Snow and Kimberlee Gard’s The Day Punctuation Came to Town, with some interactive elements added in.
But the section known as “Watch” is what’s most likely to draw attention. This is where initial users will find seven original animated shorts, though more are planned. Two involve the cows. The rest are episodes of Chick-fil-A’s Evergreen Hills franchise, which the company has spent the past five years refining, perhaps for this exact moment.
The app also includes audio content. A brand-new series called Hidden Island follows a family that was shipwrecked during a disastrous holiday ocean adventure. (Chick-fil-A loves good holiday-themed drama.) More audio shows are scheduled to debut in 2025, including Ice Lions, based on the true story of Kenya’s only hockey team.
All of this original content, and everything else on the app, remains true to Chick-fil-A’s two-pronged business philosophy that all products must be memorable and their ingredients must include family values. This has been the corporate ethos since S. Truett Cathy founded Chick-fil-A almost 80 years ago, although the company has been working to make its reach much more inclusive lately. The app seems like a natural next step in this strategy.
Will you be downloading the Chick-fil-A Play app?
