Welcome to the blog of Dr. Lisa Burns' Media Studies senior capstone class (3:30 pm section) at Quinnipiac University. If you're looking for the latest on media industry trends and insightful media analysis, you've come to the right place!
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Media Economics Blog 1, Question 2 (due Tuesday, Feb. 2nd)
Who will be the big winners – and losers – of the so-called “streaming
wars”? Which companies will dominate and which do you think will struggle to
find audiences over the next two years? Limit: 9 responses
The "streaming wars" is a modern competition that continues to change shape by the day. The sudden pandemic that has forced millions of Americans to stay and work home has given these companies a wonderful opportunity to expand.
Because Netflix is considered to be the first streaming giant, it has a certain advantage over other companies. This is mainly because of the sizable budget it has put towards original content, "which has allowed it to ramp up production significantly compared to its rivals" (Jarvey). While Netflix used to be a digital library of sorts, allowing users to access content made by others, Netflix has become more recognizable due to its self-produced content. Notable, more recent products include “Stranger Things”, “Bridgerton”, and “The Queen’s Gambit”.
The next event that has to occur to truly legitimize Netflix as a company is the ability for it to win awards for its content. In order for Netflix to be nominated for awards, its content would have to make a theatrical release. While it does not have to be widespread, and just in select locations, it would be much simpler if films that were streamed could be contenders. Because of COVID-19, “The Oscars are making what’s described as a one-time-only concession by allowing movies initially made available via streaming to compete for best picture” (Lowry). This one-time-only concession may now be in the air due to the prolonged nature of the virus, meaning more streaming movies could qualify in following years. Should this occur, Netflix could become not only a top streaming company, but production company as well.
This is also where Disney+ succeeds. Because of its large budget dedicated to originals such as the live-action “Mulan” and “Soul” that both released on streaming this year, this only grows its exclusive collection of works only available on its streaming platform.
And this is where Peacock and Discovery+ may fail and become losers of the “streaming wars”. Discovery+ and Peacock are widely known for producing new content available only on their streaming platforms and most rely on their catalogue of old content. NBCUniversal is already struggling to keep viewers entertained, as reported by Comcast, with a drop in revenue as low as “18.1%” (Alcinii). Despite people staying home due to COVID, they seem to be less attached to broadcast content, which is what Peacock and Discovery+ will heavily rely on. If this trend continues, they may struggle in the streaming wars.
WORKS CITED
Alcinii, Daniele. “NBCUniversal Revenues Dip in Comcast Fourth Quarter Earnings Report.” Realscreen " Archive ", realscreen.com/2021/01/28/nbcuniversal-revenues-dip-in-comcast-fourth-quarter-earnings-report/#:~:text=For%20the%2012%20months%20that,television%20and%20filmed%20entertainment%20divisions. Jarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic. Lowry, Brian. “Oscars Make One-Time Exception for Streaming Eligibility Because of Coronavirus.” CNN, Cable News Network, 28 Apr. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/04/28/entertainment/oscars-streaming-eligibility/index.html.
In today’s society, people are looking for quick and easy access to their favorite TV shows and media. It is recorded that between March and August 2020 U.S adults spent 2.8 trillion minutes streaming and that number continues to grow (Porter). Disney + was a huge success as it surpassed its five-year goal of attracting more than 60 million subscribers in just 9 months (Jarvey). The service includes shows and movies that everyone is familiar with. The content comes from Walt Disney Studios and other names such as Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and 20th Century Fox (Chen, Chohen, Webb). Some programs offered are developed exclusively for subscribers. Like many companies, Disney was hit by the pandemic as the revenue fell 23%, however, was not as bad as predicted. The subscriptions “soared” during the pandemic as Disney + released new programs such as Black is King and Hamilton (Lang). Giving subscribers need and unseen content is a great tool in attracting new subscribers.
Looking at other successful services we see Netflix with similar success. In 2020 Netflix added 36 million subscribers. The success is seen from the release of new seasons such as the fourth season of The Crown, The Queen’s Gambit, and Bridgerton. Both new shows have been some of the most-watched titles in Netflix history (Jarvey). At the start of the year, Netflix has also released that it would release 71 films in 2021 which is one new movie every week (Jarvey). With the success of streaming services, Netflix needs to be aware of other companies such as NBCUniversal, Warner Media, Discovery, Disney, and HBO max that is all introducing upgraded streaming services. Another "winner" of the streaming services is HBO max as it reaches 37. 665 million subscribers. The service began to gain attraction at the end of 2020 after its deal with Amazon which released a content lineup of original content series such as The Flight Attendant and The Undoing (Szalai, Jarvey). It is evident that new and original content is what is keeping and bringing in subscribers and making these services extremely successful. At the end of the day, people want new series to watch and don't want to be stuck with boring content they have already seen.
It is no secret that cable industries are on the decline as TV households peaked in 2010 at 105 million now it is down to 82.9 million and it is predicted to dip to 72.7 million by 2023 (Schneider, Aurthur). Most entertainment challenges have suffered double-digit drops in recent years such as Nick at Nite was down 24%, AMC down 22%, and TBS down 16% (Schneider, Aurthur). People are not going to watch cable with commercials when they can subscribe to fair price streaming service with shows at their fingertips. When looking at all the consolidation within these services brings concern to theater owners as well. For example, Disney chiefs won’t have the same relationship with cinema chiefs as now they have their own platform to release new films and won’t be worried about how the movie will be released. This is seen as Disney pulled Pixar’s newest movie Soul from theaters and released it on the service at no extra charge (Lang).
Cohen, Steven Cohen, and Connie Chen. Disney Plus: All Your Questions Answered about Disney's Ad-Free Streaming Service. 15 Jan. 2021, www.businessinsider.com/disney-plus. Jarvey, Natalie. "Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic." The Hollywood Reporter 19 Jan. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic
Jarvey, Natalie. "Disney’s Streaming Pivot: How Will New Structure Work in Practice?" The Hollywood Reporter 21 Oct. 2020. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disneys-streaming-pivot-how-will-new-structure-work-in-practice
Lang, Brent. "Disney Quarterly Losses Mount, Even as Company Beats Expectations." Variety 12 Nov. 2020, https://variety.com/2020/film/news/walt-disney-earnings-coronavirus-disney-plus-1234830544/
Porter, Rick. "The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays," The Hollywood Reporter 12 Dec. 2020, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-the-numbers-behind-media-giants-all-in-streaming-plays
Schneider, Michael, and Kate Aurthur. “R.I.P. Cable TV: Why Hollywood Is Slowly Killing Its Biggest Moneymaker.” Variety, Variety, 4 Dec. 2020, variety.com/2020/tv/news/cable-tv-decline-streaming-cord-cutting-1234710007/.
Szalai, Georg and Natalie Jarvey. "HBO Max Reaches 37.7M, Including 17.2M ‘Activated,’ Subscribers." The Hollywood Reporter 27 Jan. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hbo-max-subscriber-update
In looking at the current situation of streaming services and the demands of the market, I think that it is important to consider how the different services plan to continue adding/managing their content and their ability to maintain audiences in determining which companies will struggle and which will build on advantages built during the pandemic. Despite concerns over Netflix’s ability to sustain popularity, I think they will continue to be the dominant streaming service and others like Disney+ will begin to struggle due to the limitations of their content and by extension audiences.
The general opinion seems to be that Netflix has been able to stay dominant due to the pandemic and that it is likely to struggle when demand for content decreases and the popularity of other services grows. Jarvey observed in “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic” that during 2020 Netflix faced more competition for streamed content as more companies began to expand into the market. However, the pandemic led to far more demand for streamed content, and instead of facing pressure from new services, they added 36 million subscribers and outperformed expectations (Jarvey, 2021). However, he also notes that they have no more room to expand audiences in the USA and will have to look to international markets to continue to grow. However, Szalai points out in “Discovery+ to Roll Out in U.K., 11 More Markets Via Vodafone Deal,” that they will face competition abroad in Europe from the new Discovery+ service that will be offered through Vodafone (a major phone service in Europe) in various promotions planned over the course of 2021-2022 (Szalai, 2021). Discovery International president and CEO JB Perrette believes that by focusing on nature and documentary programs, true-crime, reality TV, and sports, the service will have an advantage over Netflix and others which focus on scripted series and movies (Szalai, 2021).
Meanwhile, other companies have begun to debut services that focus on popular content and franchises such as Disney+ and are able to build on the audiences and viewing habits that Netflix created. Porter argues in “TV Long View: The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays” that traditional media companies also have a lot of incentive to expand in the streaming market not only because of the increased demand but also because of the new Nielsen ratings metric that will measure time across all platforms, not just traditional TV channels (Porter, 2021). Disney+ currently has almost double the subscribers than they initially predicted for the platform's first year and now expects between 230 million and 260 million subscribers worldwide by 2024 (Porter, 2021).
Taking all this into account, I still predict that Netflix will remain dominant in the next two years, including in the USA. Netflix’s production speed of new content and their budget allow them to have an advantage in this area; in 2021 they will be basically releasing a new movie every week (Jarvey, 2021). They also have a much wider range of programming and even if they cannot expand their audiences in the USA any further, they will be able to maintain those they have better than Disney+, based on my experience as a Disney+ subscriber. I initially enjoyed re-watching things I had enjoyed as a child but soon felt the scope of the content to be limited, even with the large amount of new things Disney is producing for the service. I most likely will not maintain my subscription indefinitely as I do for Netflix and think this is likely to be the case for many adults with no children, which would lead to a drop in subscribers.
Jarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic. Accessed 30 Jan 2021.
Porter, Rick. “TV Long View: The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays.” The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2020, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-the-numbers-behind-media-giants-all-in-streamingplays. Accessed 30 Jan 2021.
Szalai, Georg. “Discovery+ to Roll Out in U.K., 11 More Markets Via Vodafone Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Jan. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/discovery-coming-to-uk-12-markets-deal-vodafone. Accessed 30 Jan 2021.
When Netflix started shipping DVD’s directly to people’s homes to rent, that was the beginning of a film and television revolution as to how viewers consumed their content. Typically, you’d have to go to the movie theater to see a new movie, or you’d have to wait long enough for the movie to be broadcasted on television networks. Today, people have access to thousands of titles across dozens of genres and sub genres of film and television at their fingertips. I don’t need to explain how streaming works, but it is important to address the dramatic shift of the way content is now consumed.
Companies like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, and Disney+ have been all the rage lately. Each of these companies owns large deals with various studios. For instance, Disney owns all of Marvel and Lucasfilm Limited, which in turn provides its customers with every Marvel and Star Wars movie, providing immediate incentive for potential new subscribers to join the service. However, the key that seems to be keeping these streaming giants in competition with each other is their originals. Sure, they buy lots of titles from the studios, but creating originals is what will put a particular service in “first place.”
According to an article via The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix remains to be the clear streaming leader amongst all of its competitors. In just the last quarter of 2020, Netflix gained 8.5 million new subscribers (Jarvey). Netflix typically performs well through the last quarter of the year since they release their titles that are predicted to do well, then. In 2020, Netflix released The Queen’s Gambit and Bridgerton, which became “some of the most-watched titles in its history” (Jarvey).
Similarly, WarnerMedia’s HBO Max has reached a record end-of-year number of subscribers. “The streaming service, buoyed by an eight-months-in-the-making distribution deal with Roku and the Christmas Day release of Wonder Woman 1984, ended the year with 17.7 million activated users, twice as many as the start of the fourth quarter, AT&T disclosed Wednesday” (Szalai, Jarvey). HBO Max currently stands with 37.7 million total subscribers, and the company has stated that they are looking to reach 50 million to 55 million subscribers in the U.S. alone by 2025 (Szalai, Jarvey).
If other streaming companies want to keep up, they’ll have to make some adjustments to avoid the “big loser” category of the “streaming wars.” According to an article from Realscreen, NBCUniversal’s revenue has dipped based on Comcast’s fourth quarter earnings report (Alcinii). Early in 2020, Comcast released the Peacock streaming service that was supposed to help with their earnings report. Peacock has seen an uptick in new subscribers at the end of 2020, much like Netflix and HBO Max. Thanks to Peacock, Comcast saw an increase in earnings through the fourth quarter of 2020. (Alcinii) However, NBCUniversal’s division had reported a significant decrease in revenue for the final quarter at 18.1%, bring the quarterly revenue down to $28.1 billion compared to last year (Alcinii). I think NBCUniversal needs to work on more original titles and think of something that will greatly appeal to their consumers. They added The Office to their lineup which is sure to help out, but perhaps they need to focus on something newer.
Based off of these facts, I believe that Netflix and HBO Max will dominate the industry and be the big winners of the “streaming wars” over the next two years. I also believe that if NBCUniversal’s streaming division does not step up their game with more originals, they could be in jeopardy of being a big loser of the “streaming wars.”
Jarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic.
Szalai, Georg, and Natalie Jarvey. “HBO Max Subscriber Update: AT&T.” The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hbo-max-subscriber-update.
The “Streaming Wars” have quickly escalated throughout recent years, especially because of COVID-19 and people’s desire for on-demand entertainment. Companies have been testing out different strategies, trying to see what will be most widely-received, but only some can come out successfully, while others will eventually be shut down/swallowed up.
The history of the companies definitely plays a role in whether or not they will find success, hence why I believe Netflix will find success this year. Netflix has been historically successful, because they were one of the earliest on-demand streaming platforms introduced. With early popularity comes success and a widened budget. Netflix was able to funnel their money into obtaining higher demand content, causing people to gravitate towards it.
Along with obtaining higher demand content, Netflix has a leg up on other services because it has shifted some of its focus onto making original content. The service was able to expand its marketability with this content. Now, people are faithful to Netflix because of some of its original shows, such as “Stranger Things” and “Orange is the New Black.” Business Insider’s “Top 20 Streaming TV Shows of the Year” list from 2020 was “dominated by Netflix” (Clark), featuring shows such as “You” and “The Crown.” That being said, even if they lose a lot of the high demand content that users desire (which has happened with shows such as “Friends” and “The Office”), their original content can keep subscribers faithful.
Natalie Jarvey points out that Netflix may be losing its footing, by having “all but exhausted its potential market in the U.S” (Jarvey); however, she also points out that this may not be all negative. Although the people of the US have mostly made up their minds about Netflix and whether or not they are faithful to it, there is still a whole market around the world. Jarvey notes that 83 percent of Netflix’s new subscribers in 2020 came from outside of the US, which is a positive sign of growth. Its international spread could mean more future exposure and success, while other companies attempt to combine and catch up.
One other service that I feel will stay on an upward trend is Disney+. Similar to Netflix, Disney’s history as a company plays a lot into this. Jarvey points out that Disney+ surpassed its “five-year goal of attracting more than 60 million subscribers in just nine months” (Jarvey), and this could be due to Disney’s history as a successful Media giant and the demand for all of its original content.
In the same way that Netflix finds success with original content, users flock to Disney+ for its movies and shows that had been difficult to access over the years, due to Disney’s ownership of them. Also, Disney now has the ability to release more original content directly through the streaming service, and not just in theaters or through other platforms. This creates a desire to pay the small monthly fee, and receive the new shows and movies easily. The history that Disney holds and people’s attachment to it as a company bring it success.
Observing Netflix and Disney’s historical success makes one think about the future of the smaller streaming services. Logically, it seems that the smaller companies would be best off merging with one another, or even combining with the larger, more successful companies, in order to widen their budget and come up with new creative ideas. Simply owning different shows and movies doesn’t seem to cut it anymore in 2021 (hence why I see Peacock’s investment in “The Office” as a poor decision).
Clark, Travis. “The Top 20 Streaming TV Shows of the Year from Services like Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBO Max.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 24 Dec. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/top-streaming-original-tv-shows-netflix-disney-plus-hbo-max-2020-12#11-the-crown-netflix-2016-present-four-seasons-10.
Jarvey, Natalie. “Disney's Streaming Pivot: How Will New Structure Work in Practice?” The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Oct. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disneys-streaming-pivot-how-will-new-structure-work-in-practice.
Jarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic.
Rachel Feliciano Dr. Burns MSS-495 February 2, 2021
Media Trends Blog
We are the most familiar with streaming companies like Netflix and Hulu. We are now faced with conglomerates like HBO and Disney, stepping up their game to create their own streaming services. Streaming movies and TV shows has been the new norm which led to so many families cancelling their cable plan and upgrading their streaming services in order to watch “live TV”...if they even needed to. Conglomerates like HBO and Disney have seen a huge decrease in viewings due to the shift of regularly watching TV to binge watching TV. This encouraged HBO and Disney to invest in their own streaming services like HBO Max and Disney+. Although Disney hopped on the streaming service trend a little later than everyone else, they seem to be on their way to be the winners of the so-called “streaming wars”. Disney+ expected to reach “60 million to 90 million subscriptions by 2024” (CNBC), they have not only reached their goal but exceeding their predictions by reaching 74 million subscribers today while only being accessible to the public for 13 months. It is clear that Disney+ is on its way to dominate all streaming services due to their rapid increase of subscriptions and handful of new and old content. From a personal experience I would say that Netflix will be on its way to struggling to find audiences over the next two years while also struggling to compete with streaming services like HBO Max and Disney+. One reason Netflix will struggle would be that a majority of their famous TV shows are coming off their site like ‘The Office’ and ‘Friends’ and the second reason would be that they have increased their basic monthly subscription from $8.99 a month to now $13.99 per month. This was a huge risk to take for Netflix although they made their decision based off of new content coming in. Increasing the cost of a monthly subscription is hurting Netflix’s audience because despite having more new content there are other streaming sites that have just as much to offer but expect less monthly payments. COVID-19 has made a huge impact on how many people are using streaming services due to having much more time on their hands. An article from Variety, Bridge shows the changes in U.S. media activity since COVID-19 began making watching content on streaming services the greatest increase amongst all other services. People like the accessibility to watch one episode of a show after another which is why streaming services are doing so well, their audiences are able to watch an entire television show with no advertisement interruptions and no waiting time for the next episode or season. Streaming services will only be on the rise and we will have more “streaming wars” between all the services that are just looking to one up each other and generate the most subscriptions possible. The winners of the streaming wars will be the ones with the most content and the most subscribers.
Work Cited Franich, Darren. “2020 Was a Hell of a Year.” Ew.com, Entertainment Weekly , 2 Dec. 2020, ew.com/tv/2020-best-worst-essay/. Bridge, Gavin. “RIDING THE THIRD WAVE: COVID-19’S IMPACT ON MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT.” Variety VIP+, Variety.com, 1 Dec. 2020, variety.com/vip-special-reports/riding-the-third-wave-covid-19s-impact-on-media-entertainment-1234839968/. Bursztynsky, Jessica. “Disney+ Emerges as an Early Winner of Streaming Wars, Expects up to 260 Million Subscribers by 2024.” CNBC, CNBC, 11 Dec. 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/12/11/after-showing-massive-growth-disney-hikes-5-year-subscriber-goal-.html.
The race to the consumer has picked up considerably and media corporations are suiting up for battle. Over the past couple of years streaming has become the main focus of the entertainment world. Amid this “everlasting” pandemic, competitors are aiming to polish their products with hopes that users will add them to their monthly budgets.
For a long time, Netflix has been in the pole position when it comes to subscription-based content, but this may soon change. According to the media landscape chart from Vox, Netflix currently has a whopping 195 million paid users (Kafka and Molla). That is more than double than second place, but that is where things get interesting.
While Disney + may be trailing behind, they have many reasons to be optimistic. Having launched a little over a year ago the entertainment giant has already amassed over 85 million subscribers, and “...the company is now projecting between 230 million and 260 million subscribers worldwide by 2024” (Porter). Disney’s massive streaming audience has also gotten a sneak peek at what is to come from the newly launched service.
Two of the most consumed franchises when it comes to entertainment are owned by Disney, and the company has made it clear that Marvel and Star Wars are here to stay. Dozens of shows have been announced to be streaming exclusive, including “Loki”, “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, and “Baymax!” (Alexander et al.). Disney has set them self-up to overtake Netflix for the top spot due to the variety of their projects. Besides original series, they also create motion picture films that can be marketed through the streaming service. While there may be a changing of the guard in the upcoming future, I forecast that both Netflix and Disney will be at the helm of streaming content for years to come.
On the other end, some companies haven’t quite figured out the correct formula when it comes to streaming. While NBC’s Peacock boasts a decent 33 million subscribers, they have had some hiccups out the gate. I remember hearing in class that while the service exclusively offers “The Office”, the proposed bonus features have not been much of a hit with consumers. Supposedly behind the scenes action of the show are repurposed scenes that do not really fit in with the show as a whole. It makes consumers question whether or not the premium pricing is worth it considering the lack of appealing features.
In that same breath, many services including peacock have a similar problem with sporting events. It is hard to retain subscribers who are only there for the sports as it is a small component of the service. Along with CBS All Access, Peacock exclusively streams European soccer games. Downsides include popular matches being broadcasted on regular cable channels, posing a threat to keeping users interested in paying for streaming.
While I think it is too early to declare services like Peacock a loser in the “streaming wars”, it is imperative to keep an eye on networks who need to cater to specific audiences. Other companies that may be in danger of these issues are CBS All Access and Discovery +. I think the big 3 of Netflix, Disney + and Hulu will remain at the top as they already have a solid foundation of users who enjoy their content. Middle of the pack streaming services such as ESPN +, HBO Max and YouTube Premium do well but need to make sure they keep adding quality content to convince users to stay.
Molla, Rani, and Peter Kafka. “From Amazon, Apple, Comcast, and AT&T: Who Owns the Media Today.” Vox, 11 Jan. 2021, www.vox.com/2018/1/23/16905844/media-landscape-verizon-amazon-comcast-disney-fox-relationships-chart. Peters, Jay, et al. “The 52 Biggest Marvel, Star Wars, and Disney Announcements from Its End of Year Event.” The Verge, 11 Dec. 2020, www.theverge.com/2020/12/10/22167976/disney-investor-day-2020-biggest-announcements-plus-marvel-star-wars-pixar-animation. Porter, Rick. “TV Long View: The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays.” The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-the-numbers-behind-media-giants-all-in-streaming-plays.
Streaming is how many of us watch movies and TV these days. Streaming has taken over the world in the past few years and it shows no signs of slowing down. Netflix, Disney +, Hulu; these are all services that many of us use everyday. With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were forced into their homes with nothing to do but watch TV. These streaming platforms now had to compete for that audience of billions of people who were now on lockdown. According to Neilson, between the 6 month span of March 2020 to August 2020, American adults spent a mind blowing 2.8 trillion minutes watching streaming services with that number still growing (Porter). Streaming is going nowhere. Companies like Netflix who have been around the longest have an advantage. But with more competition entering the market, it will be interesting to see how these streaming wars start heating up.
Netflix, the largest streaming giant has definitely done the best. Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, Netflix gained 36 million new subscribers, with 8.5 million of these being in the 4th quarter of 2020. Far more subscribers than anyone ever imagined (Jarvey). This, combined with its massive budget, makes Netflix a company that seems to keep on growing and getting even bigger. Huge titles like “The Crown” and “The Queens Gambit” have become some of Netflix’s most watched shows in history. With numbers like this it's hard to think of a company who could compete, however with the release of Disney's new streaming platform, Disney +, they will have some competition.
Disney released their streaming service, Disney + in 2019. Disney + did well with releases like “The Mandalorian”, and “Hamilton”. They have 73 million subscribers since launch. But, like with most every company during the pandemic, they struggled. Disney lost lots of money in 2020, a 23% loss on revenue. Despite this loss, Disney + is going strong for them (Lang). Despite not yet turning a profit, they got down on their losses in 2020 and found success in gaining more and more subscribers. Disney even adapted well to the pandemic by releasing Mulan on Disney + for a price, which proved to be a big success.
Even other companies such as HBO have seen success in their streaming services as well. HBO+ now has 41.5 million subscribers at the end of 2020. See all this information, it is obvious that not many streaming services are struggling at the moment. The pandemic, in a way, has been amazing for these streaming companies. With everyone stuck at home, 80% of Americans now own a subscription to a streaming service. That is up 7% from the previous year (Spangler). I think that Netflix will continue to grow and continue to do well as it is a household name. I don’t see them having many issues or seeing them struggling in the near future. However from my experience, many people I know that use Disney + only got it to watch The Mandalorian or other special things that they offered such as Mulan. But once the pandemic dies down and we return to our normal lives, I think that services like Disney + could struggle. I own many streaming services now because of being stuck at home, but once everyone goes back to normal life I think we could see a decrease in the use of some streaming services. If many of the people I know only use Disney + for The Mandalorian, I feel that once things like that are gone we could see Disney struggle if they don’t find new entertaining content for users. This is my observation based on how my friends and family have used Disney +. Overall, streaming is the new future of entertainment and in order for companies to succeed and compete they need to be able to take on the giants like Netflix.
(2/2)Works Cited Jarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic. Lang, Brent. “Disney Quarterly Losses Mount, Even as Company Beats Expectations.” Variety, Variety, 13 Nov. 2020, variety.com/2020/film/news/walt-disney-earnings-coronavirus-disney-plus-1234830544/. Porter, Rick. “The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays.” The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-the-numbers-behind-media-giants-all-in-streaming-plays. Spangler, Todd. “Streaming-Video Subscriptions Have Risen During COVID-19 - but So Has 'Subscription Fatigue,' Study Finds.” Variety, Variety, 23 June 2020, variety.com/2020/digital/news/streaming-video-subscriptions-churn-covid-19-deloitte-1234642672/.
Based on my personal opinion the most probable winners of the streaming wars would have to be Disney+ and Netflix. The line up of new original movies and shows from Disney+ has piqued my interest in many ways that no other service has yet. The Star Wars revitalization that Disney+ has created with its acquisition of the franchise back in 2012 and the further expansion of its universe with a new trilogy and The Mandalorian series is a great example. It was tied in perfectly and with the rest of the Star Wars expanded universe already readily available on the platform, I believe it to be part of the reason that it did dominate throughout 2020 and why it will continue to dominate with its new titles. As far as Netflix goes, I constantly find myself delving into series or films that came out over a decade ago that I had never seen, which I believe is where the appeal comes from. Netflix does make original content and has a constant shift of content from all over the world. Although it does constantly add and remove shows in sometimes an annoying fashion, it stays fresh while having a pretty decent library.
I believe the main reason that Disney+ and Netflix will be at the top over the next few years is because they bridged a sort of gap between their theatrical releases and series. With most productions there is a stark contrast in budget when it comes to TV series and theatrical releases. Most if not all productions usually end up with the theatrical releases having significantly larger budgets than most television series. With Disney+ and Netflix that is not the case, “The MoffettNathanson analyst also discussed the state of the streaming wars, arguing that "there is a clear hierarchy with Netflix and Disney at the top of the food chain in terms of how quickly they can move and how much they spend on projects." Their scale and reach gives them "a unique advantage, as talent is motivated to create content that is still widely seen and talked about,” he argued.”(Szalai 2) The capability to spend major film budgets on tv series is a distinct advantage that would normally only be available to streaming services that have existed for a quite a few years already and have an extremely high user base such as Netflix as mentioned above. However due to Disney+ overwhelming success in 2020 it has surpassed other services like Hulu and HBO allowing them to produce a larger amount of high-quality original content.
When it comes to the loser(s) of the streaming wars, you have to discern how bad the loss might be in comparison with the others. Services such as Hulu, HBO Max, Roku, Peacock, etc… are not that far off from Disney+ in terms of subscribers. As of January 21st 2021 the Media landscape shows Disney+ at only 87M subs, with HBO Max at 57M subs, Roku at 51M subs, and Hulu at 39M subs (Molla & Kafka ML Diagram). The gap is not that large however all of those services aside from Disney+ have been around for a pretty long time now. Netflix obviously stands above all in the diagram at 195M subs which is unsurprising as it predates most of them. That being said it is not the end for probably any of them, “Older streaming platforms like Hulu and (especially) Netflix helped create the behavior reflected in Nielsen's numbers and projections. Legacy media companies like Disney — which acquired full control of Hulu last year in addition to launching Disney+ — and Warner are playing catchup now, and they may be for some time. But consumers' moves toward streaming that the Nielsen numbers reveal suggest, again, that even if no other media giant "dethrones" Netflix, they have a lot of room to grow.” (Porter 1). I do not agree with Porter that Disney+ will be having to play catch up as the announcement of multiple new series let alone the fact that it has barely been a year since its release shows more promise than the rest. However as stated the acquisition of Hulu by Disney will aid it greatly but likely not lead to that much new original content for it. As for the rest the possibility to grow is there more than ever so I don’t see there being a true loser of the bunch as most of them are part of a larger company. So the real losers would have to be those who lack a larger parent company in this shift towards streaming.
Work Cited
Szalai, Georg. “Analyst on Logical NBCU-WarnerMedia Merger.” The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywoods-2021-investor-forecast-outlined-in-analyst-report.
Rani Molla, Peter Kafka. “Here's Who Owns Everything in Big Media Today.” Vox, Vox, 23 Jan. 2018, www.vox.com/2018/1/23/16905844/media-landscape-verizon-amazon-comcast-disney-fox-relationships-chart.
Porter, Rick. “The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays.” The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-the-numbers-behind-media-giants-all-in-streaming-plays.
The streaming wars that have ensued as a result of increased demand for content and easier accessibility. The pandemic forced many people inside their homes for the nearly the entirety of 2021. Some companies have been positioned to be successful during this time, and some have moved toward the trend of subscription based streaming more recently.
Take a company like Netflix. They have been offering on demand content for years, and have built up a strong selection over the years that attract new users. For Netflix, an increase in demand for on-demand video is beneficial to the company. This is where the pandemic comes in and clearly has a correlation with the boom of netflix during 2020. Coronavirus has brought the demand up, and the chance for in person showings down. During 2020, Netflix added 36 million new subscribers bringing its global total to a massive 206 million subscribers. (Jarvey) Netflix was already a strong player in the streaming industry pre-pandemic, and its reputation from that helped it achieve massive gains during 2020.
In addition to this, Walt Disney Studios has also seen success and has developed a plan moving forward to continue that as a demand for streaming increases. Bernardine Brandis is the head of business affairs at the studio and made two key moves that helped boost the success and popularity of its new streaming service called Disney+. First the debut of “Mulan” on the service, and then “Hamilton”. These two huge titles helped to bring new popularity and an excitement for the platform. While the company had been holding off in case in person viewing was possible, theatres remained shut down and they were forced to make a move. (Cullins) Theatres will return and box office profits with them, the success of these two titles on the platform showed that there was a huge audience to be reached by releasing major content on demand for viewers, so why not invest in making a great platform with classic Disney content, and new content as well.
On the other hand, cable companies will be the losers of the streaming wars because they lack the streaming part of it. Traditional cable companies that offer timeslot channels and limited on demand selections, if any at all, are no longer attractive with the presence of multiple streaming services. The only successful part of cable is the news networks, who saw an increase in ratings during march of 2020 than in 2019 of the same month. (“Coronavirus”) This may have had something to do with the political climate of 2020 and the interest of more people in political news as well as news on the pandemic and social issues. The bulk of cable companies channels and slots have shows that are available on demand through different services, lessening the interest in waiting to watch your favorite show through cable. Even many sports games and events are on services other than cable that provide a number of other perks to go with it. In the end, the slow, out of date nature of cable will leave companies struggling to keep up with other companies who have already invested and seen success through their streaming services.
“Coronavirus: Impact on Media Consumption in the U.S.” Statista, 2020, www-statista-com.libraryproxy.quinnipiac.edu/study/71596/coronavirus-impact-on-us-media-consumption/. Cullins, Edited by Ashley. “Hollywood's Top Dealmakers of 2020: The Pandemic Players.” The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/hollywoods-top-dealmakers-of-2020-the-pandemic-players.
Jarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic.
The "streaming wars" is a modern competition that continues to change shape by the day. The sudden pandemic that has forced millions of Americans to stay and work home has given these companies a wonderful opportunity to expand.
ReplyDeleteBecause Netflix is considered to be the first streaming giant, it has a certain advantage over other companies. This is mainly because of the sizable budget it has put towards original content, "which has allowed it to ramp up production significantly compared to its rivals" (Jarvey). While Netflix used to be a digital library of sorts, allowing users to access content made by others, Netflix has become more recognizable due to its self-produced content. Notable, more recent products include “Stranger Things”, “Bridgerton”, and “The Queen’s Gambit”.
The next event that has to occur to truly legitimize Netflix as a company is the ability for it to win awards for its content. In order for Netflix to be nominated for awards, its content would have to make a theatrical release. While it does not have to be widespread, and just in select locations, it would be much simpler if films that were streamed could be contenders. Because of COVID-19, “The Oscars are making what’s described as a one-time-only concession by allowing movies initially made available via streaming to compete for best picture” (Lowry). This one-time-only concession may now be in the air due to the prolonged nature of the virus, meaning more streaming movies could qualify in following years. Should this occur, Netflix could become not only a top streaming company, but production company as well.
This is also where Disney+ succeeds. Because of its large budget dedicated to originals such as the live-action “Mulan” and “Soul” that both released on streaming this year, this only grows its exclusive collection of works only available on its streaming platform.
And this is where Peacock and Discovery+ may fail and become losers of the “streaming wars”. Discovery+ and Peacock are widely known for producing new content available only on their streaming platforms and most rely on their catalogue of old content. NBCUniversal is already struggling to keep viewers entertained, as reported by Comcast, with a drop in revenue as low as “18.1%” (Alcinii). Despite people staying home due to COVID, they seem to be less attached to broadcast content, which is what Peacock and Discovery+ will heavily rely on. If this trend continues, they may struggle in the streaming wars.
WORKS CITED
Alcinii, Daniele. “NBCUniversal Revenues Dip in Comcast Fourth Quarter Earnings Report.” Realscreen " Archive ", realscreen.com/2021/01/28/nbcuniversal-revenues-dip-in-comcast-fourth-quarter-earnings-report/#:~:text=For%20the%2012%20months%20that,television%20and%20filmed%20entertainment%20divisions.
Jarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic.
Lowry, Brian. “Oscars Make One-Time Exception for Streaming Eligibility Because of Coronavirus.” CNN, Cable News Network, 28 Apr. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/04/28/entertainment/oscars-streaming-eligibility/index.html.
This comment was made by Sydney Reynolds! Not sure why it's not showing my name despite me being signed in.
Delete
ReplyDeleteHarriet Rice
Media Economics Blog 1
In today’s society, people are looking for quick and easy access to their favorite TV shows and media. It is recorded that between March and August 2020 U.S adults spent 2.8 trillion minutes streaming and that number continues to grow (Porter). Disney + was a huge success as it surpassed its five-year goal of attracting more than 60 million subscribers in just 9 months (Jarvey). The service includes shows and movies that everyone is familiar with. The content comes from Walt Disney Studios and other names such as Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and 20th Century Fox (Chen, Chohen, Webb). Some programs offered are developed exclusively for subscribers. Like many companies, Disney was hit by the pandemic as the revenue fell 23%, however, was not as bad as predicted. The subscriptions “soared” during the pandemic as Disney + released new programs such as Black is King and Hamilton (Lang). Giving subscribers need and unseen content is a great tool in attracting new subscribers.
Looking at other successful services we see Netflix with similar success. In 2020 Netflix added 36 million subscribers. The success is seen from the release of new seasons such as the fourth season of The Crown, The Queen’s Gambit, and Bridgerton. Both new shows have been some of the most-watched titles in Netflix history (Jarvey). At the start of the year, Netflix has also released that it would release 71 films in 2021 which is one new movie every week (Jarvey). With the success of streaming services, Netflix needs to be aware of other companies such as NBCUniversal, Warner Media, Discovery, Disney, and HBO max that is all introducing upgraded streaming services. Another "winner" of the streaming services is HBO max as it reaches 37. 665 million subscribers. The service began to gain attraction at the end of 2020 after its deal with Amazon which released a content lineup of original content series such as The Flight Attendant and The Undoing (Szalai, Jarvey). It is evident that new and original content is what is keeping and bringing in subscribers and making these services extremely successful. At the end of the day, people want new series to watch and don't want to be stuck with boring content they have already seen.
It is no secret that cable industries are on the decline as TV households peaked in 2010 at 105 million now it is down to 82.9 million and it is predicted to dip to 72.7 million by 2023 (Schneider, Aurthur). Most entertainment challenges have suffered double-digit drops in recent years such as Nick at Nite was down 24%, AMC down 22%, and TBS down 16% (Schneider, Aurthur). People are not going to watch cable with commercials when they can subscribe to fair price streaming service with shows at their fingertips. When looking at all the consolidation within these services brings concern to theater owners as well. For example, Disney chiefs won’t have the same relationship with cinema chiefs as now they have their own platform to release new films and won’t be worried about how the movie will be released. This is seen as Disney pulled Pixar’s newest movie Soul from theaters and released it on the service at no extra charge (Lang).
Works Cited
ReplyDeleteCohen, Steven Cohen, and Connie Chen. Disney Plus: All Your Questions Answered about Disney's Ad-Free Streaming Service. 15 Jan. 2021, www.businessinsider.com/disney-plus.
Jarvey, Natalie. "Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic." The Hollywood Reporter 19 Jan. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic
Jarvey, Natalie. "Disney’s Streaming Pivot: How Will New Structure Work in Practice?" The Hollywood Reporter 21 Oct. 2020.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disneys-streaming-pivot-how-will-new-structure-work-in-practice
Lang, Brent. "Disney Quarterly Losses Mount, Even as Company Beats Expectations." Variety 12 Nov. 2020,
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/walt-disney-earnings-coronavirus-disney-plus-1234830544/
Porter, Rick. "The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays," The Hollywood Reporter 12 Dec. 2020,
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-the-numbers-behind-media-giants-all-in-streaming-plays
Schneider, Michael, and Kate Aurthur. “R.I.P. Cable TV: Why Hollywood Is Slowly Killing Its Biggest Moneymaker.” Variety, Variety, 4 Dec. 2020, variety.com/2020/tv/news/cable-tv-decline-streaming-cord-cutting-1234710007/.
Szalai, Georg and Natalie Jarvey. "HBO Max Reaches 37.7M, Including 17.2M ‘Activated,’ Subscribers." The Hollywood Reporter 27 Jan. 2021,
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hbo-max-subscriber-update
Gabriela Alvares
ReplyDeleteMedia Economics Blog 1
In looking at the current situation of streaming services and the demands of the market, I think that it is important to consider how the different services plan to continue adding/managing their content and their ability to maintain audiences in determining which companies will struggle and which will build on advantages built during the pandemic. Despite concerns over Netflix’s ability to sustain popularity, I think they will continue to be the dominant streaming service and others like Disney+ will begin to struggle due to the limitations of their content and by extension audiences.
The general opinion seems to be that Netflix has been able to stay dominant due to the pandemic and that it is likely to struggle when demand for content decreases and the popularity of other services grows. Jarvey observed in “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic” that during 2020 Netflix faced more competition for streamed content as more companies began to expand into the market. However, the pandemic led to far more demand for streamed content, and instead of facing pressure from new services, they added 36 million subscribers and outperformed expectations (Jarvey, 2021). However, he also notes that they have no more room to expand audiences in the USA and will have to look to international markets to continue to grow. However, Szalai points out in “Discovery+ to Roll Out in U.K., 11 More Markets Via Vodafone Deal,” that they will face competition abroad in Europe from the new Discovery+ service that will be offered through Vodafone (a major phone service in Europe) in various promotions planned over the course of 2021-2022 (Szalai, 2021). Discovery International president and CEO JB Perrette believes that by focusing on nature and documentary programs, true-crime, reality TV, and sports, the service will have an advantage over Netflix and others which focus on scripted series and movies (Szalai, 2021).
Meanwhile, other companies have begun to debut services that focus on popular content and franchises such as Disney+ and are able to build on the audiences and viewing habits that Netflix created. Porter argues in “TV Long View: The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays” that traditional media companies also have a lot of incentive to expand in the streaming market not only because of the increased demand but also because of the new Nielsen ratings metric that will measure time across all platforms, not just traditional TV channels (Porter, 2021). Disney+ currently has almost double the subscribers than they initially predicted for the platform's first year and now expects between 230 million and 260 million subscribers worldwide by 2024 (Porter, 2021).
Taking all this into account, I still predict that Netflix will remain dominant in the next two years, including in the USA. Netflix’s production speed of new content and their budget allow them to have an advantage in this area; in 2021 they will be basically releasing a new movie every week (Jarvey, 2021). They also have a much wider range of programming and even if they cannot expand their audiences in the USA any further, they will be able to maintain those they have better than Disney+, based on my experience as a Disney+ subscriber. I initially enjoyed re-watching things I had enjoyed as a child but soon felt the scope of the content to be limited, even with the large amount of new things Disney is producing for the service. I most likely will not maintain my subscription indefinitely as I do for Netflix and think this is likely to be the case for many adults with no children, which would lead to a drop in subscribers.
Gabriela Alvares
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
Jarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic. Accessed 30 Jan 2021.
Porter, Rick. “TV Long View: The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays.” The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2020, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-the-numbers-behind-media-giants-all-in-streamingplays. Accessed 30 Jan 2021.
Szalai, Georg. “Discovery+ to Roll Out in U.K., 11 More Markets Via Vodafone Deal.” The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Jan. 2021, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/discovery-coming-to-uk-12-markets-deal-vodafone. Accessed 30 Jan 2021.
Adam Tollin
ReplyDeleteMedia Trends Blog 1
When Netflix started shipping DVD’s directly to people’s homes to rent, that was the beginning of a film and television revolution as to how viewers consumed their content. Typically, you’d have to go to the movie theater to see a new movie, or you’d have to wait long enough for the movie to be broadcasted on television networks. Today, people have access to thousands of titles across dozens of genres and sub genres of film and television at their fingertips. I don’t need to explain how streaming works, but it is important to address the dramatic shift of the way content is now consumed.
Companies like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, and Disney+ have been all the rage lately. Each of these companies owns large deals with various studios. For instance, Disney owns all of Marvel and Lucasfilm Limited, which in turn provides its customers with every Marvel and Star Wars movie, providing immediate incentive for potential new subscribers to join the service. However, the key that seems to be keeping these streaming giants in competition with each other is their originals. Sure, they buy lots of titles from the studios, but creating originals is what will put a particular service in “first place.”
According to an article via The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix remains to be the clear streaming leader amongst all of its competitors. In just the last quarter of 2020, Netflix gained 8.5 million new subscribers (Jarvey). Netflix typically performs well through the last quarter of the year since they release their titles that are predicted to do well, then. In 2020, Netflix released The Queen’s Gambit and Bridgerton, which became “some of the most-watched titles in its history” (Jarvey).
Similarly, WarnerMedia’s HBO Max has reached a record end-of-year number of subscribers. “The streaming service, buoyed by an eight-months-in-the-making distribution deal with Roku and the Christmas Day release of Wonder Woman 1984, ended the year with 17.7 million activated users, twice as many as the start of the fourth quarter, AT&T disclosed Wednesday” (Szalai, Jarvey). HBO Max currently stands with 37.7 million total subscribers, and the company has stated that they are looking to reach 50 million to 55 million subscribers in the U.S. alone by 2025 (Szalai, Jarvey).
If other streaming companies want to keep up, they’ll have to make some adjustments to avoid the “big loser” category of the “streaming wars.” According to an article from Realscreen, NBCUniversal’s revenue has dipped based on Comcast’s fourth quarter earnings report (Alcinii). Early in 2020, Comcast released the Peacock streaming service that was supposed to help with their earnings report. Peacock has seen an uptick in new subscribers at the end of 2020, much like Netflix and HBO Max. Thanks to Peacock, Comcast saw an increase in earnings through the fourth quarter of 2020. (Alcinii) However, NBCUniversal’s division had reported a significant decrease in revenue for the final quarter at 18.1%, bring the quarterly revenue down to $28.1 billion compared to last year (Alcinii). I think NBCUniversal needs to work on more original titles and think of something that will greatly appeal to their consumers. They added The Office to their lineup which is sure to help out, but perhaps they need to focus on something newer.
Based off of these facts, I believe that Netflix and HBO Max will dominate the industry and be the big winners of the “streaming wars” over the next two years. I also believe that if NBCUniversal’s streaming division does not step up their game with more originals, they could be in jeopardy of being a big loser of the “streaming wars.”
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Works Cited
DeleteJarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic.
Szalai, Georg, and Natalie Jarvey. “HBO Max Subscriber Update: AT&T.” The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hbo-max-subscriber-update.
Alcinii, Daniele. “NBCUniversal Revenues Dip in Comcast Fourth Quarter Earnings Report.” Realscreen " Archive ", 28 Jan. 2021, realscreen.com/2021/01/28/nbcuniversal-revenues-dip-in-comcast-fourth-quarter-earnings-report/#:~:text=For%20the%2012%20months%20that,television%20and%20filmed%20entertainment%20divisions.
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Alyssa Murphy (Part 1)
ReplyDeleteThe “Streaming Wars” have quickly escalated throughout recent years, especially because of COVID-19 and people’s desire for on-demand entertainment. Companies have been testing out different strategies, trying to see what will be most widely-received, but only some can come out successfully, while others will eventually be shut down/swallowed up.
The history of the companies definitely plays a role in whether or not they will find success, hence why I believe Netflix will find success this year. Netflix has been historically successful, because they were one of the earliest on-demand streaming platforms introduced. With early popularity comes success and a widened budget. Netflix was able to funnel their money into obtaining higher demand content, causing people to gravitate towards it.
Along with obtaining higher demand content, Netflix has a leg up on other services because it has shifted some of its focus onto making original content. The service was able to expand its marketability with this content. Now, people are faithful to Netflix because of some of its original shows, such as “Stranger Things” and “Orange is the New Black.” Business Insider’s “Top 20 Streaming TV Shows of the Year” list from 2020 was “dominated by Netflix” (Clark), featuring shows such as “You” and “The Crown.” That being said, even if they lose a lot of the high demand content that users desire (which has happened with shows such as “Friends” and “The Office”), their original content can keep subscribers faithful.
Natalie Jarvey points out that Netflix may be losing its footing, by having “all but exhausted its potential market in the U.S” (Jarvey); however, she also points out that this may not be all negative. Although the people of the US have mostly made up their minds about Netflix and whether or not they are faithful to it, there is still a whole market around the world. Jarvey notes that 83 percent of Netflix’s new subscribers in 2020 came from outside of the US, which is a positive sign of growth. Its international spread could mean more future exposure and success, while other companies attempt to combine and catch up.
Alyssa Murphy (Part 2)
ReplyDeleteOne other service that I feel will stay on an upward trend is Disney+. Similar to Netflix, Disney’s history as a company plays a lot into this. Jarvey points out that Disney+ surpassed its “five-year goal of attracting more than 60 million subscribers in just nine months” (Jarvey), and this could be due to Disney’s history as a successful Media giant and the demand for all of its original content.
In the same way that Netflix finds success with original content, users flock to Disney+ for its movies and shows that had been difficult to access over the years, due to Disney’s ownership of them. Also, Disney now has the ability to release more original content directly through the streaming service, and not just in theaters or through other platforms. This creates a desire to pay the small monthly fee, and receive the new shows and movies easily. The history that Disney holds and people’s attachment to it as a company bring it success.
Observing Netflix and Disney’s historical success makes one think about the future of the smaller streaming services. Logically, it seems that the smaller companies would be best off merging with one another, or even combining with the larger, more successful companies, in order to widen their budget and come up with new creative ideas. Simply owning different shows and movies doesn’t seem to cut it anymore in 2021 (hence why I see Peacock’s investment in “The Office” as a poor decision).
Clark, Travis. “The Top 20 Streaming TV Shows of the Year from Services like Netflix, Disney Plus, and HBO Max.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 24 Dec. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/top-streaming-original-tv-shows-netflix-disney-plus-hbo-max-2020-12#11-the-crown-netflix-2016-present-four-seasons-10.
Jarvey, Natalie. “Disney's Streaming Pivot: How Will New Structure Work in Practice?” The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Oct. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disneys-streaming-pivot-how-will-new-structure-work-in-practice.
Jarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic.
Rachel Feliciano
ReplyDeleteDr. Burns
MSS-495
February 2, 2021
Media Trends Blog
We are the most familiar with streaming companies like Netflix and Hulu. We are now faced with conglomerates like HBO and Disney, stepping up their game to create their own streaming services. Streaming movies and TV shows has been the new norm which led to so many families cancelling their cable plan and upgrading their streaming services in order to watch “live TV”...if they even needed to. Conglomerates like HBO and Disney have seen a huge decrease in viewings due to the shift of regularly watching TV to binge watching TV. This encouraged HBO and Disney to invest in their own streaming services like HBO Max and Disney+.
Although Disney hopped on the streaming service trend a little later than everyone else, they seem to be on their way to be the winners of the so-called “streaming wars”. Disney+ expected to reach “60 million to 90 million subscriptions by 2024” (CNBC), they have not only reached their goal but exceeding their predictions by reaching 74 million subscribers today while only being accessible to the public for 13 months. It is clear that Disney+ is on its way to dominate all streaming services due to their rapid increase of subscriptions and handful of new and old content. From a personal experience I would say that Netflix will be on its way to struggling to find audiences over the next two years while also struggling to compete with streaming services like HBO Max and Disney+. One reason Netflix will struggle would be that a majority of their famous TV shows are coming off their site like ‘The Office’ and ‘Friends’ and the second reason would be that they have increased their basic monthly subscription from $8.99 a month to now $13.99 per month. This was a huge risk to take for Netflix although they made their decision based off of new content coming in. Increasing the cost of a monthly subscription is hurting Netflix’s audience because despite having more new content there are other streaming sites that have just as much to offer but expect less monthly payments.
COVID-19 has made a huge impact on how many people are using streaming services due to having much more time on their hands. An article from Variety, Bridge shows the changes in U.S. media activity since COVID-19 began making watching content on streaming services the greatest increase amongst all other services. People like the accessibility to watch one episode of a show after another which is why streaming services are doing so well, their audiences are able to watch an entire television show with no advertisement interruptions and no waiting time for the next episode or season.
Streaming services will only be on the rise and we will have more “streaming wars” between all the services that are just looking to one up each other and generate the most subscriptions possible. The winners of the streaming wars will be the ones with the most content and the most subscribers.
Work Cited
Franich, Darren. “2020 Was a Hell of a Year.” Ew.com, Entertainment Weekly , 2 Dec. 2020, ew.com/tv/2020-best-worst-essay/.
Bridge, Gavin. “RIDING THE THIRD WAVE: COVID-19’S IMPACT ON MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT.” Variety VIP+, Variety.com, 1 Dec. 2020, variety.com/vip-special-reports/riding-the-third-wave-covid-19s-impact-on-media-entertainment-1234839968/.
Bursztynsky, Jessica. “Disney+ Emerges as an Early Winner of Streaming Wars, Expects up to 260 Million Subscribers by 2024.” CNBC, CNBC, 11 Dec. 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/12/11/after-showing-massive-growth-disney-hikes-5-year-subscriber-goal-.html.
Eric Martineau
ReplyDeleteMedia Trends Blog 1 – Media Economics
The race to the consumer has picked up considerably and media corporations are suiting up for battle. Over the past couple of years streaming has become the main focus of the entertainment world. Amid this “everlasting” pandemic, competitors are aiming to polish their products with hopes that users will add them to their monthly budgets.
For a long time, Netflix has been in the pole position when it comes to subscription-based content, but this may soon change. According to the media landscape chart from Vox, Netflix currently has a whopping 195 million paid users (Kafka and Molla). That is more than double than second place, but that is where things get interesting.
While Disney + may be trailing behind, they have many reasons to be optimistic. Having launched a little over a year ago the entertainment giant has already amassed over 85 million subscribers, and “...the company is now projecting between 230 million and 260 million subscribers worldwide by 2024” (Porter). Disney’s massive streaming audience has also gotten a sneak peek at what is to come from the newly launched service.
Two of the most consumed franchises when it comes to entertainment are owned by Disney, and the company has made it clear that Marvel and Star Wars are here to stay. Dozens of shows have been announced to be streaming exclusive, including “Loki”, “Obi-Wan Kenobi”, and “Baymax!” (Alexander et al.). Disney has set them self-up to overtake Netflix for the top spot due to the variety of their projects. Besides original series, they also create motion picture films that can be marketed through the streaming service. While there may be a changing of the guard in the upcoming future, I forecast that both Netflix and Disney will be at the helm of streaming content for years to come.
On the other end, some companies haven’t quite figured out the correct formula when it comes to streaming. While NBC’s Peacock boasts a decent 33 million subscribers, they have had some hiccups out the gate. I remember hearing in class that while the service exclusively offers “The Office”, the proposed bonus features have not been much of a hit with consumers. Supposedly behind the scenes action of the show are repurposed scenes that do not really fit in with the show as a whole. It makes consumers question whether or not the premium pricing is worth it considering the lack of appealing features.
In that same breath, many services including peacock have a similar problem with sporting events. It is hard to retain subscribers who are only there for the sports as it is a small component of the service. Along with CBS All Access, Peacock exclusively streams European soccer games. Downsides include popular matches being broadcasted on regular cable channels, posing a threat to keeping users interested in paying for streaming.
While I think it is too early to declare services like Peacock a loser in the “streaming wars”, it is imperative to keep an eye on networks who need to cater to specific audiences. Other companies that may be in danger of these issues are CBS All Access and Discovery +. I think the big 3 of Netflix, Disney + and Hulu will remain at the top as they already have a solid foundation of users who enjoy their content. Middle of the pack streaming services such as ESPN +, HBO Max and YouTube Premium do well but need to make sure they keep adding quality content to convince users to stay.
Works Cited
DeleteMolla, Rani, and Peter Kafka. “From Amazon, Apple, Comcast, and AT&T: Who Owns the Media Today.” Vox, 11 Jan. 2021, www.vox.com/2018/1/23/16905844/media-landscape-verizon-amazon-comcast-disney-fox-relationships-chart.
Peters, Jay, et al. “The 52 Biggest Marvel, Star Wars, and Disney Announcements from Its End of Year Event.” The Verge, 11 Dec. 2020, www.theverge.com/2020/12/10/22167976/disney-investor-day-2020-biggest-announcements-plus-marvel-star-wars-pixar-animation.
Porter, Rick. “TV Long View: The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays.” The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-the-numbers-behind-media-giants-all-in-streaming-plays.
Streaming is how many of us watch movies and TV these days. Streaming has taken over the world in the past few years and it shows no signs of slowing down. Netflix, Disney +, Hulu; these are all services that many of us use everyday. With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were forced into their homes with nothing to do but watch TV. These streaming platforms now had to compete for that audience of billions of people who were now on lockdown. According to Neilson, between the 6 month span of March 2020 to August 2020, American adults spent a mind blowing 2.8 trillion minutes watching streaming services with that number still growing (Porter). Streaming is going nowhere. Companies like Netflix who have been around the longest have an advantage. But with more competition entering the market, it will be interesting to see how these streaming wars start heating up.
ReplyDeleteNetflix, the largest streaming giant has definitely done the best. Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, Netflix gained 36 million new subscribers, with 8.5 million of these being in the 4th quarter of 2020. Far more subscribers than anyone ever imagined (Jarvey). This, combined with its massive budget, makes Netflix a company that seems to keep on growing and getting even bigger. Huge titles like “The Crown” and “The Queens Gambit” have become some of Netflix’s most watched shows in history. With numbers like this it's hard to think of a company who could compete, however with the release of Disney's new streaming platform, Disney +, they will have some competition.
Disney released their streaming service, Disney + in 2019. Disney + did well with releases like “The Mandalorian”, and “Hamilton”. They have 73 million subscribers since launch. But, like with most every company during the pandemic, they struggled. Disney lost lots of money in 2020, a 23% loss on revenue. Despite this loss, Disney + is going strong for them (Lang). Despite not yet turning a profit, they got down on their losses in 2020 and found success in gaining more and more subscribers. Disney even adapted well to the pandemic by releasing Mulan on Disney + for a price, which proved to be a big success.
Even other companies such as HBO have seen success in their streaming services as well. HBO+ now has 41.5 million subscribers at the end of 2020. See all this information, it is obvious that not many streaming services are struggling at the moment. The pandemic, in a way, has been amazing for these streaming companies. With everyone stuck at home, 80% of Americans now own a subscription to a streaming service. That is up 7% from the previous year (Spangler). I think that Netflix will continue to grow and continue to do well as it is a household name. I don’t see them having many issues or seeing them struggling in the near future. However from my experience, many people I know that use Disney + only got it to watch The Mandalorian or other special things that they offered such as Mulan. But once the pandemic dies down and we return to our normal lives, I think that services like Disney + could struggle. I own many streaming services now because of being stuck at home, but once everyone goes back to normal life I think we could see a decrease in the use of some streaming services. If many of the people I know only use Disney + for The Mandalorian, I feel that once things like that are gone we could see Disney struggle if they don’t find new entertaining content for users. This is my observation based on how my friends and family have used Disney +. Overall, streaming is the new future of entertainment and in order for companies to succeed and compete they need to be able to take on the giants like Netflix.
(2/2)Works Cited
DeleteJarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic.
Lang, Brent. “Disney Quarterly Losses Mount, Even as Company Beats Expectations.” Variety, Variety, 13 Nov. 2020, variety.com/2020/film/news/walt-disney-earnings-coronavirus-disney-plus-1234830544/.
Porter, Rick. “The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays.” The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-the-numbers-behind-media-giants-all-in-streaming-plays.
Spangler, Todd. “Streaming-Video Subscriptions Have Risen During COVID-19 - but So Has 'Subscription Fatigue,' Study Finds.” Variety, Variety, 23 June 2020, variety.com/2020/digital/news/streaming-video-subscriptions-churn-covid-19-deloitte-1234642672/.
Matthew Taylor (Part 1)
ReplyDeleteMedia Trends Blog 1
Based on my personal opinion the most probable winners of the streaming wars would have to be Disney+ and Netflix. The line up of new original movies and shows from Disney+ has piqued my interest in many ways that no other service has yet. The Star Wars revitalization that Disney+ has created with its acquisition of the franchise back in 2012 and the further expansion of its universe with a new trilogy and The Mandalorian series is a great example. It was tied in perfectly and with the rest of the Star Wars expanded universe already readily available on the platform, I believe it to be part of the reason that it did dominate throughout 2020 and why it will continue to dominate with its new titles. As far as Netflix goes, I constantly find myself delving into series or films that came out over a decade ago that I had never seen, which I believe is where the appeal comes from. Netflix does make original content and has a constant shift of content from all over the world. Although it does constantly add and remove shows in sometimes an annoying fashion, it stays fresh while having a pretty decent library.
I believe the main reason that Disney+ and Netflix will be at the top over the next few years is because they bridged a sort of gap between their theatrical releases and series. With most productions there is a stark contrast in budget when it comes to TV series and theatrical releases. Most if not all productions usually end up with the theatrical releases having significantly larger budgets than most television series. With Disney+ and Netflix that is not the case, “The MoffettNathanson analyst also discussed the state of the streaming wars, arguing that "there is a clear hierarchy with Netflix and Disney at the top of the food chain in terms of how quickly they can move and how much they spend on projects." Their scale and reach gives them "a unique advantage, as talent is motivated to create content that is still widely seen and talked about,” he argued.”(Szalai 2) The capability to spend major film budgets on tv series is a distinct advantage that would normally only be available to streaming services that have existed for a quite a few years already and have an extremely high user base such as Netflix as mentioned above. However due to Disney+ overwhelming success in 2020 it has surpassed other services like Hulu and HBO allowing them to produce a larger amount of high-quality original content.
Matthew Taylor (Part 2)
ReplyDeleteMedia Trends Blog 1
When it comes to the loser(s) of the streaming wars, you have to discern how bad the loss might be in comparison with the others. Services such as Hulu, HBO Max, Roku, Peacock, etc… are not that far off from Disney+ in terms of subscribers. As of January 21st 2021 the Media landscape shows Disney+ at only 87M subs, with HBO Max at 57M subs, Roku at 51M subs, and Hulu at 39M subs (Molla & Kafka ML Diagram). The gap is not that large however all of those services aside from Disney+ have been around for a pretty long time now. Netflix obviously stands above all in the diagram at 195M subs which is unsurprising as it predates most of them. That being said it is not the end for probably any of them, “Older streaming platforms like Hulu and (especially) Netflix helped create the behavior reflected in Nielsen's numbers and projections. Legacy media companies like Disney — which acquired full control of Hulu last year in addition to launching Disney+ — and Warner are playing catchup now, and they may be for some time. But consumers' moves toward streaming that the Nielsen numbers reveal suggest, again, that even if no other media giant "dethrones" Netflix, they have a lot of room to grow.” (Porter 1). I do not agree with Porter that Disney+ will be having to play catch up as the announcement of multiple new series let alone the fact that it has barely been a year since its release shows more promise than the rest. However as stated the acquisition of Hulu by Disney will aid it greatly but likely not lead to that much new original content for it. As for the rest the possibility to grow is there more than ever so I don’t see there being a true loser of the bunch as most of them are part of a larger company. So the real losers would have to be those who lack a larger parent company in this shift towards streaming.
Work Cited
Szalai, Georg. “Analyst on Logical NBCU-WarnerMedia Merger.” The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywoods-2021-investor-forecast-outlined-in-analyst-report.
Rani Molla, Peter Kafka. “Here's Who Owns Everything in Big Media Today.” Vox, Vox, 23 Jan. 2018, www.vox.com/2018/1/23/16905844/media-landscape-verizon-amazon-comcast-disney-fox-relationships-chart.
Porter, Rick. “The Numbers Behind Media Giants' All-In Streaming Plays.” The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-the-numbers-behind-media-giants-all-in-streaming-plays.
Reese Mentiply
ReplyDeleteThe streaming wars that have ensued as a result of increased demand for content and easier accessibility. The pandemic forced many people inside their homes for the nearly the entirety of 2021. Some companies have been positioned to be successful during this time, and some have moved toward the trend of subscription based streaming more recently.
Take a company like Netflix. They have been offering on demand content for years, and have built up a strong selection over the years that attract new users. For Netflix, an increase in demand for on-demand video is beneficial to the company. This is where the pandemic comes in and clearly has a correlation with the boom of netflix during 2020. Coronavirus has brought the demand up, and the chance for in person showings down. During 2020, Netflix added 36 million new subscribers bringing its global total to a massive 206 million subscribers. (Jarvey) Netflix was already a strong player in the streaming industry pre-pandemic, and its reputation from that helped it achieve massive gains during 2020.
In addition to this, Walt Disney Studios has also seen success and has developed a plan moving forward to continue that as a demand for streaming increases. Bernardine Brandis is the head of business affairs at the studio and made two key moves that helped boost the success and popularity of its new streaming service called Disney+. First the debut of “Mulan” on the service, and then “Hamilton”. These two huge titles helped to bring new popularity and an excitement for the platform. While the company had been holding off in case in person viewing was possible, theatres remained shut down and they were forced to make a move. (Cullins) Theatres will return and box office profits with them, the success of these two titles on the platform showed that there was a huge audience to be reached by releasing major content on demand for viewers, so why not invest in making a great platform with classic Disney content, and new content as well.
On the other hand, cable companies will be the losers of the streaming wars because they lack the streaming part of it. Traditional cable companies that offer timeslot channels and limited on demand selections, if any at all, are no longer attractive with the presence of multiple streaming services. The only successful part of cable is the news networks, who saw an increase in ratings during march of 2020 than in 2019 of the same month. (“Coronavirus”) This may have had something to do with the political climate of 2020 and the interest of more people in political news as well as news on the pandemic and social issues. The bulk of cable companies channels and slots have shows that are available on demand through different services, lessening the interest in waiting to watch your favorite show through cable. Even many sports games and events are on services other than cable that provide a number of other perks to go with it. In the end, the slow, out of date nature of cable will leave companies struggling to keep up with other companies who have already invested and seen success through their streaming services.
“Coronavirus: Impact on Media Consumption in the U.S.” Statista, 2020, www-statista-com.libraryproxy.quinnipiac.edu/study/71596/coronavirus-impact-on-us-media-consumption/.
Cullins, Edited by Ashley. “Hollywood's Top Dealmakers of 2020: The Pandemic Players.” The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/hollywoods-top-dealmakers-of-2020-the-pandemic-players.
Jarvey, Natalie. “Netflix Tops 200 Million Subscribers Amid Pandemic.” The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-tops-200-million-subscribers-amid-pandemic.