Has streaming hit it’s peak?

So fed up with so many streaming platforms. Netflix promised so much when it was the only player, and now every man and his dog wants their own platform.

We have Netflix (which my sister pays half of - until they figure out she lives at a different address...), Amazon (for the free delivery), Disney (which was free), and AppleTV (which is a 3 month trial).

Can't see me subscribing to anything else except to get access to one show, watch it, and then leave.
 
It hit it's peak when it was pretty much only Netflix....
Want to watch (insert random thing here)... it's on Netflix

Now, it might be on Netflix, Disney, Paramount, AppleTV, Amazon Prime, Discovery, Peacock, Lionsgate, Britbox... or on any other random tiny streaming service.
 
We have Netflix and Amazon (for the free delivery - wouldnt bother otherwise.) Paramount+ (okay for the Taylor Sheridan stuff otherwise -nah) and Discovery (never watched) as we have Sky.

Other than that had Disney for 1 month over Christmas to watch the new releases they had - then dumped it. A couple of free trials of Apple now and again to catch up on their best shows (best quality content of any streamer but not much of it) or occasional 1 month sub - then dropped.

While any revenue is good revenue I guess these companies actually want steady sub numbers over a whole year - not the odd month here and there. Other than the ones above dont bother with the rest.
 
Oh, and this image was made 5 years ago. It's only got worse with the fragmentation today.

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It might be a generational thing. It could potentially grow more as the mobile obsessed young ones move into their own places, replacing the older TV licence consumers. But i'm not convinced the trend of the internet will continue, many believe the internet has declined from a peak. Whilst we are quick to judge the young ones, they might embrace something more rewarding than ye ol' couch potatoing.

Whilst cost is a big part of the decision to consume or not, ultimately most people can afford to squander money and are fine with it too. It does seem corporations will still be able to push harder and invest more as the consumer is still positive too. So growth will continue yet i believe, even if i'm not a subscriber to any.
 
It peaked years ago for me, I was happy to pay for NF in the early years, bit Amazon Prime thrown in too. But those days are long gone. Too many services, too expensive, now ads as well, diluted content, cancelled shows when they become "too expensive" (I'm the customer why should I care what your costs of doing business are? - AAA gaming pulling the same BS too) - overall the quality of shows has plummeted and the value proposition stinks.

Fully on the high seas now, no TV licence, I can watch YT with no ads on PC - lots of content there. Apart from gaming the Amazon Prime sub (free weeks, free months etc) for deliveries that's all I pay out.

What I have invested in instead is a 4K player, and BR'S/4K's i'll actually own forever.

Streaming? - Mugs game.
 
Sure most here use the loopholes for the cheaper subs

Netflix from the west
Samsung / uber Disney offer
Prime ..part from prime
YT from the east
 
Outside of the UK-Centric issues, the big audiences just waiting for fast Internet etc is probably India, now that China (the last big audience pot) has saturated.

The amount of up/down viewership change with "western" countries is fairly negligible compared to a billion people in India that streaming services can sell too.
 
Just cancelled Netflix after 12 years, very little content I find good anyhow lately but the basic plan, which they are removing, at £7.99/m was OK just to leave it going and occasionally watch stuff, won't pay for an ad supported plan/don't do ads on TV shows/movies and not worth paying any more so will end up just dipping in for a month or two if there is something I really want to watch I guess or more likely just not bothering with it at all.
 
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I suspect that a number of these services will shutter when the cheap investment money is no longer available.

It is difficult to both be the distributor and the content creator as the goals of each don’t neatly align. It works best as a symbiotic relationship between the two.

If you are just a distributor you can shop around for content to bring to your platform in the hopes of retaining subscribers. If you have a large selection of shows to pick from, then you can shop around for the good shows. If there is enough good content out there to purchase you can have something fresh on a regular basis allowing you to maintain subscribers. You don’t need to worry about funding shows and the fear of putting money into a crap project that doesn’t generate the returns.


If you are a content creator your goal is to create the next big hit. You can take risks experimenting (to a certain extent) as you’re not concerned about maintaining subscriber numbers.

Production takes time, so you don’t need to rush to ensure you have a constant stream of content in the hopes of maintaining subscriptions.
 
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