The show will go on
S03E10: Game of Streams (The show will go on)
Our Media Solution Consultant, Magnus Svensson, is sharing his reflections from the online streaming industry in this post. This is part of a monthly series so make sure to follow us here if you don’t want to miss an episode.
“Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off”
This statement from Franklin D. Roosevelt summarizes the current streaming market in a very good way. New streaming services are launched more or less weekly, but at the same time, we also see more and more cooperation. Working in the streaming video business has never been more fun.
When this episode of Game of Streams is published, Apple TV+ makes its debut in more than 100 countries. Less than two weeks later, Disney+ will be available in selected countries. As Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, stated to The Hollywood Reporter magazine: “We’re locked and loaded.”
Cooperation begins where competition leaves off. Verizon, the second-largest mobile operator in the US, announced that they will give away Disney+ one year for free to all of its wireless customers on unlimited-data plans. AT&T, the world’s largest telecommunications company, will give HBO Max for free to 10 million wireless AT&T customers. Streaming services get subscribers and mobile operators retain wireless subscribers.
Already when Apple announced the Apple TV+, they also announced that customers who purchase any iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch or Mac can enjoy one year of Apple TV+ for free.
The move from Disney, Apple, and AT&T (or Warner Media) means that the new combatants in the “streaming war” (as a lot of people like to call it) get a huge subscriber base quite quickly. For Apple, it also means that they get a year to build a decent portfolio, something that Disney already has.
Platform cooperation
In Europe, we continue to see cooperation between content owners and broadcasters. Discovery Inc and Cyfrowy Polsat S.A. announced that they would create a common video streaming platform. And in Sweden NENT (Nordic Entertainment Group) and Telenor will merge Canal Digital and Viasat Consumer.
Common platforms between different companies are one way to be able to compete with the global streaming services. Ad funded services are another way that will become more popular moving forward.
Earlier this month the Los Angeles Times calculated the monthly subscription costs of the US-based streaming services that provide original or repackaged programming. You would need to spend almost $450 per month to access them all. In Sweden, the average household subscribes to 1,7 services, which means that it will be hard for all subscription services to survive.
The big US and global players in the ad-funded sector include Pluto TV, Rakuten TV, The Roku Channel, and Tubi and we will see many local variants of ad-funded services.
So, for local content owners and broadcasters to survive, they need to consider both cooperation and advertising. And they need to start soon, before it’s too late.
To watch out for the coming months…
In a couple of days, the 7th of November, we have Streaming Tech Sweden coming up for the fourth year. With an agenda filled with lots of interesting and educational presentations and around 200 attendees from more than 60 companies, this is an event that you don’t want to miss. There are still a few tickets left.
Magnus Svensson is a Media Solution Consultant and partner at Eyevinn Technology. Eyevinn Technology is the leading independent consultant firm specializing in video technology and media distribution.
Follow me on Twitter (@svensson00) and LinkedIn for regular updates and news.
