The Challenge

SportsNet’s streaming subscriber acquisition costs were too high. CPA was above benchmark, subscriber growth was plateauing, and the existing campaign structure was built around awareness metrics rather than the unit economics that actually drive a streaming business: cost per new subscriber.

What We Did

We rebuilt the campaign strategy from the ground up with one north-star metric: cost per new subscriber. Every decision — targeting, creative, bid strategy, channel allocation — was evaluated against that number.

The first move was restructuring campaigns away from broad awareness KPIs and toward conversion-optimized structures. We tightened audience targeting to reach Canadians with the highest propensity to subscribe — sports fans with demonstrated interest in the specific leagues and content SportsNet carries — and rebuilt creative around the content library itself, not generic brand messaging.

We also introduced a continuous testing framework that let us identify the creative angles and audience segments driving the lowest CPAs, then scale those aggressively. Underperforming segments were cut quickly to protect efficiency. Over twelve months, this compounding optimization drove a 63% reduction in CPA — meaning every subscriber cost dramatically less than it had the year before.

The Results

• 63% lower CPA YoY — the core efficiency metric improved by more than half
• 153K new subscribers — acquired at a fraction of the previous cost
• 18M Canadians reached — broad national reach maintained while cost efficiency improved

The Takeaway

For subscription businesses, ROAS is the wrong KPI. Cost per subscriber — measured against lifetime value — is the number that determines whether your paid media is actually building a profitable business. Rebuild your campaigns around that and everything else follows.