Streaming was once seen as the great disruptor to how we watch media. Is that assessment still accurate in 2024? Let’s look at some recent developments and see if streaming services still represent innovation or if their models are becoming more similar to TV.
Original Offerings
In the past year, the UK’s streaming landscape has seen several changes. TUBI, Fox Corporation’s ad-based streaming service, which doesn’t offer an ad-free experience, was released in the UK. Meanwhile, Lionsgate+ shut down, With its library rolling over to MGM+ (an Amazon subsidiary).
Additionally, big players like Amazon Prime and Disney+ have followed Netflix and offered cheaper access plans, including adverts, While increasing the price of what was originally the default package.
Then there is Apple TV+ whose services senior vice president is pushing to be more careful with original content budgets. So the service can be more sustainable.
All of this indicates that streaming is starting to feel the impact of the market’s current state. As studios all try to set up their own streaming giant by gating off their own content behind paywalls, for many viewers it is starting to become confusing and unaffordable as costs rack up to access everything they want. This has resulted in smaller services closing, cuts being considered and needing to ape television’s model of advert support.
Streaming Packages
One way companies are potentially trying to continue to build their app’s customer base is by partnering with other streaming sites to offer bundles at discounted prices. Recently in the US Disney+, Hulu and Max announced they would join forces on a bundle. This will offer all three services at a cheaper rate than if customers were to pay for them individually.
This will undoubtedly be viewed as a good thing for both Warner Bros and Disney (the owners of these sites) as it will allow both services access to each other’s audiences and will subsidise the cost of things like promotion. As the bundles will advertise both companies, which is a similar model to how cable TV bundles operate.
It does offer audiences access to a wider range of projects for a cheaper price, however, both companies have increased prices on subscribers before so how long it would remain affordable is uncertain. It must also be noted that access to a wider range of titles is artificial. Both companies gated off their content rather than allowing it to be available on more affordable third-party platforms.
TV & Streaming Become One
However, despite all this talk of streaming becoming more like traditional TV, television is now moving to become more like streaming. Recently Freely was launched by Everyone TV – who are behind Freeview and Freesat. Which essentially aims to move TV channels online, allowing you to watch live and on-demand TV from several of the main UK channels in one place for free.
That said, with only a limited number of channels signed up currently, high-speed internet still not available for some homes, and the cost of running the internet and TV at home for these services all being factored in there are still significant barriers to accessing Freely.
What This Means?
What this showcases is that the industry is slowly starting to feel the grip of economic pressures. Especially in the wake of the historic Hollywood strikes which saw industry workers win big gains in worker protections. This could indicate that the studios have started looking for ways to make back money. This would mean cutting production budgets, partnering with other services to spread costs, seeking funding from advertisers and increasing consumer costs. All this has amounted to streaming becoming very similar to the television models it was meant to be replacing. But with television broadcasting beginning to move to an online model it seems streaming is genuinely just becoming the new television rather than an alternative. Whether it will be a positive or not, only time will tell.
That said, with so much of streaming now replicating problems of TV and presenting its own problems the vision of a more affordable, accessible way to watch whatever you want seems to be a world away.
Also Read: The Paradox of Plenty: How Streaming’s Abundance May Curtail Your Viewing Choices
