Fragmented Viewing – Streaming Service Nightmares
Some groundwork being Laid
It is no secret that the world of entertainment consumption changes to keep up with the times, after all, Netflix disrupted the established norm for home viewing and essentially killed (or took part in killing) established norms like Blockbuster Video. With that knowledge should it come as any surprise that Netflix is in turn being disrupted by niche streaming services? I am getting ahead of myself though so let me start at the beginning.
For years after the rise of giant Netflix companies have tried to tobble the giant by making their own version of an true digital experience for consuming content. Out of all the competitors, the biggest ones to gain any kind of foothold were Hulu and Amazon Prime Video. However, none of them offered direct competition as the content providers for these services oftentimes would license content to all 3 streaming service.
Netflix was not always the streaming giant that it is now though, once upon a time they were a DVD mailing service one Blockbuster I am sure saw little to no threat from. It was not until Netflix decided to focus a majority of its time and resources into becoming the Streaming service it is now that Blockbuster started to worry and subsequently would relent to. Sure they tried to stay relevant by starting their own DVD mailing service for a while, ultimately it failed resulting in a void in the home entertainment market.
Hulu came about as a way to allow traditional Television networks to host their content in a digital platform without maintaining their own Digital infrastructure, something which at the time was largely needed. Over time both Netflix and Hulu branched out and began making their own content in an effort to stay relevant as Networks were now experimenting with VOD platforms allowing their shows to be viewed a week sometimes a day after it aired on TV. Amazon, of course, followed suit with their own original content and so the start of the digital entertainment empire began.
Now for several years we got Netflix and Amazon basically dishing out tons of original content while continuing to make digital access to other studios content easier for the masses. Hulu would occasionally release an original series but had nowhere near as much success as the two giants in the new emerging industry. As the studios watched the success of these three main entries into the Digital space they secretly began to make plans that would result in the eventual creation of several streaming services specific to their IP (Intellectual Property).
Rise of studio-specific streaming services
It started slow of course and oftentimes free, as we got services like CW Seed, a streaming service that was add supported but allowed old shows WB and the CW had either abandon or canceled to be revived in a digital format for consumption. Over time they started adding old movies as well and toyed with small run animated series that were based on their popular tv shows like The Flash and Arrow.
As time went on the larger studios behind the characters in these shows began to see the benefit of an online presence that was unique. Slowly rumors of things like DC Universe and Disney Plus became more frequent, eventually resulting in those services becoming reality. Each service offered something that you could not get from the giants like Amazon or Netflix, such as digital forms of comic books or concept art included with your subscription to these services. DC Universe, for example, offers access to most of their DC-related movies and content (with the exception of stuff they have licensed out like The Flash tv show which ironically is on CW which is part of DC) as well as a huge backlog of comic books in digital form free of charge to those who subscribe to the service.
For a while these services were not as disruptive as they might have seemed at first glance, enter Disney Plus. Disney Plus, however, was disruptive before it even launched just the idea of it coming caused concern among fans that content related to Disney IP would be pulled from existing platforms such as Netflix in favor of their own service. By this point shows like Luke Cage and Jessica Jones were popular on Netflix as they were Netflix original creations but the characters belonged to Marvel which was purchased by Disney.
You may be able to see where this is going, after a few years Disney pulled the plug on a lot of their licensing deals with 3rd parties such as Netflix quietly preparing for the giant that would become Disney Plus. Shows that we as fans had grown to love (or hate depending on your views on the later seasons) were canceled and pulled from Netflix and no explanation was officially given while the general consicous was Disney Plus. This went further than Netflix however, shows that were slated to be made were later canceled for again mysterious purposes, shows like the Ghost Rider series that was supposed to launch on Hulu starring Gabriel Luna’s version of the character as first shown on Agents of Shield.
Again Disney stays quiet on the reasoning for this not wanting to admit what fans had suspected (though we have not been able to confirm), Disney Plus! All of this is happening and Disney Plus is still a year or so away from launching, it is having this much of a polarizing effect and it is not even launched yet at this point. Fast forward to November 12th, 2019, Disney Plus is unleashed on the world. So far it has been everything Disney claimed it would be allowing access to almost all of their IP including several Animated Classics. The Launch did not go without its own issues however but that is beyond the scope of this post.
Around this time we have started getting what I call Micro streaming services starting up by the premium TV channel companies like HBO and Starz. These are all at first welcomed additions as it allows people who have canceled their cable to watch content originally only viewable through these channels. However lately they have branched out into a separate streaming service altogether (different from the one you purchase to watch shows online from the actual channels) such as HBO Now.
Content goes Service Jumping
Now, this is where it gets confusing and frankly irritating, Content platforms such as DC Universe (a paid service remember) start offloading their shows to other streaming services! I am not a huge business guy so I am sure from some weird marketing/Business perspective this makes sense, however, Taking a show such as the Doom Patrol (exclusive to DC Universe well for season 1 anyway) and moving it off one paid streaming service to another new paid streaming service for season 2 is well insane. DC wants you to buy their service to watch the first season of this show and then pay HBO for their service to watch season 2, while this is the only show I know of to do this so far it may not be the last.
In a similar fashion but not quite as annoying, is the new show set to start airing in Q2 of 2020 Stargirl. This show will premier on DC Universe but the next day shows up on the CW like its cousins The Flash, Supergirl and the like. This does not bother me quite as much as it allows for those who may not want to pay to see it on DC Universe the chance to see it on the CW, what is kind of annoying about this is it dilutes the benefit of having paid for DC Universe. Sure there is other content that makes the subscription worth it to people however if this kind of movement becomes a trend it would be both a blessing and curse, It would help those who can not afford the service but weaken the reasons behind continuing to pay for the subscription.
Closing Thoughts
All of this is my roundabout way of saying that the sheer number of streaming services that are rising up can end up making the decision to cut the cord with cable and go online only more expensive than just sticking with cable. As more and more studios launch their own streaming services places like Netflix will become more of a collection of random movies no one needs or really ever wants to see or maybe will result in more original content.
I welcome a few streaming services but when my list of subscription services (or potential ones) becomes longer than 3-5 then, in my opinion, there is an issue. Until someone comes up with a way to pay one Reasonable subscription fee and gain access to all these streaming services I may just have to limit our households to 3.
What are your thoughts? Do you agree with the above? Let me know below let us start a real conversation about where you think Digital content consumption is going.
The above comments are my own personal opinions and should not be taken as the way everyone looks at the situation. I encourage you to do your own research and make your own opinions.
Full Disclosure for the sake of transparency, I currently subscribe to Hulu, DC Universe, Disney Plus and Netflix. I have access to a few streaming services like HBO and Showtime that came with my cable subscription, I do not subscribe to HBO Now or any other similar micro streaming service.