The Entertainment Industry is Playing a Dangerous Game with Streaming Services
The year was 2007. Netflix had just introduced on-demand video streaming, and television as we knew it was about to change forever. Gone were the days of DVDs, DVRs, and overpriced cable packages; for just ten bucks a month, Netflix offered instant access to thousands of titles with the click of a button. It was clear that streaming services were the future of entertainment.
It wasn’t until this year that we would begin to see the streaming market reach its natural breaking point. Over the past few months, massive media corporations like Disney and NBCUniversal have been pulling their content from Netflix and Hulu to move over to their own streaming platforms. Every piece of noteworthy media is becoming exclusive to one particular network; it’s essentially the rebirth of cable.
The problem is that the streaming model only worked in the first place because nearly every major film and television series was accessible with just one or two subscriptions. In other words, if your favorite show wasn’t on Netflix, it was almost guaranteed to be offered on Hulu. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said today. Both Hulu and Netflix have significantly weaker libraries than they did a year ago, and if you can’t find a certain show or movie, who knows whether it will be available on Disney+, Apple TV+, Peacock, or god forbid CBS All Access? It is becoming incredibly decentralized and overly convoluted for consumers, and when you need to buy six or seven different monthly subscriptions, each containing only a small handful of titles which actually interest you, it simply makes more sense to buy each title individually.
For certain companies, the move to an in-house streaming platform actually makes a lot of sense. Disney, for example, owns an enormous library of internationally beloved franchises, many of which possess a unique nostalgic pull for audiences spanning across several generations. Based on brand recognition alone, Disney+ is almost guaranteed to succeed, and its existence is easily justified. However, not every company can be Disney; some media corporations simply do not have the same quantity of franchises or widespread appeal. Sure, die-hard fans of DC Comics may subscribe to DC Universe, but locking every piece of DC content behind its own service will make it virtually impossible for the company to win over new audiences.
Much like things were when Netflix first took the world by storm, it is becoming increasingly clear that streaming as we know it will never be the same. It’s an unfortunate change that seemed inevitable for years, but despite its objective flaws and drastic downgrade in terms of consumer friendliness, having content spread across many streaming services could still work if executed correctly. Especially in the realm of digital media, there is a fine line between a business increasing profit and taking advantage of the general public. The new players in the streaming market need to prove the worth of their products soon, because if they don’t, the TV industry may never recover.