Streaming Domination and the Battle of Streaming Platforms

It is not too difficult to find a person with a smartphone or a tablet on their hands watching their favorite shows. Indeed, streaming right now has dominated the way that everyone is watching. Many big companies like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max develop so many shows. Both good and low-quality shows or even movies. Everyone loves it because streaming is so convenient and so enjoyable.

Source: Cedars

Seeing that trend, big companies that don’t do anything to deal with streaming like Amazon, Apple, or Disney “step” inside the game and produce binge-watch shows. With an account and a device, people can watch any show they want. This is a trend that will never go away. In fact, maybe in the future, there will be millions of streaming services.

Streaming right now is like a kind of “food” that everyone must have on a table. Think about this, with the hustle and the bustle of all things around, everyone must feel really tired after they came home. They turn on the TV and all about the news, which only adds more tiredness or pressure. All they want to do is relax. People will choose to read, meditate, play some online games, surf webs, recording or watching Tik Tok, or just simply sleep. And along with those kinds of relaxation, they can watch any show on the streaming platforms. They can watch anywhere anytime as long as they have their a phone or a tablet with a good internet connection.

The audience, nowadays, loves things that are convenient. They come to Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max to watch because they are everywhere with a phone in their hands. A revolution has begun. Streaming companies understand that. In recent research from Business of Apps, the data has shown that Netflix has 75 million subscribers, followed by Amazon Prime Video with 50 million subscribers, Disney+ with 45 million subscribers, and Apple TV+ with 40 million (which is a good number because Apple TV+ just launched in 2019). People can see the importance of streaming services right now.

Yes, it is amazing and convenient. But streaming services always have killed so many kinds of business that might be like a “golden time” for everyone. In the past, people could go to Blockbusters or any local video stores to rent or buy a movie. It sounded normal in the past. But in today’s world, no one wants to do that. Why do they have to go to a video store, rent or buy a DVD, and insert into their player? It wastes a lot of time. Remembering back a long time ago before the era of television, people can only go to movie theaters to watch movies for entertainment. Then, the television was invented which had changed the way people entertain daily. And now, streaming service is a new kind of entertainment.

Streaming services can provide the audience renting or buying video at an affordable price. Talking about movies, as mentioned, movies begin to move to stream platforms. Many big movies like The Irishman by Martin Scorsese, Don’t Look Up by Adam Mckay are released on Netflix. Or Black Widow is released by Disney+ or The Matrix: Resurrection is released by HBO Max. It creates a concern for the movie business and big studios of Hollywood.

A good movie is based on two factors. Box office and critically acclaimed, where box office plays an important role. The budget can be over a hundred million dollars and if that movie does not release in the theater, there will be no gross. The question is being asked. “What is the future for a movie theater?”

Like in 2020, when the pandemic hit really hard, movie theaters shut down. Since then, people had changed their ways of watching movies. Besides streaming, they can rent or buy a movie on demand. Of course, the price for each movie is high for some people but at least they stay at home, make some popcorn, and enjoy in their living room. But the experience is not like when they watch a movie in the movie theater because it has an IMAX experience, amazing sound, and an atmosphere of cheering. That is an element that streaming cannot do.

A resident from Huntington Beach, Nguyen Le, shared that she would rather go to the theater to watch a movie than stick her eyes into a tablet to watch a movie on demand. Le subscribes to Netflix and she loves that platform. “Movies and shows on Netflix are wonderful and superb,” Le said. “But if there is a movie that is released in the theater, why wouldn’t I want to go there and watch. Of course, it cost some gas to go there and a movie ticket, but at least I have a full experience.” She also said that streaming services are only good when it sticks to TV shows formats.

Christina Ceisel, an assistant professor of communications at Cal State Fullerton, shared movies must be released at the theaters no matter what. She said that the movie theater has been going down for 20 years due to the change in the way people are watching. “What we’ve seen is people increasingly unwilling to spend what they are asking for in ticket pricing for a movie, we can watch comfortably on service they have.” That is another reason that audiences have begun to turn their backs on movie theaters.

“Primary audiences are streaming,” Ms. Ceisel said. She explained the primary audiences are young audiences from 18 years old to 24 years old, who prefer to watch movies on streaming services than go to the theater.

Edward J. Fink, professor of Cinema and Television Arts at Cal State Fullerton, has a different opinion. He said the future of movie theater will be the same in which people will still want to go to the movie theater and watch movies. With people who get used to the old school, the movie theater is still a place for entertainment. But the thing that directors begin to move their movies inside the hands of streaming companies is unknown. “I don’t know if it [directors hand their movie to streaming companies] is a mistake,” Mr. Fink said. “I think everybody is trying new things and eventually find out what monetize their content.” He means how those companies try to make more money from those movies.

Streaming services right now are no longer about providing the audience with good content, it is also about competing with other streaming companies, which is a war that has no end. The price for each platform is also an element to decide what audience is gonna choose. For example, Netflix has three plans for users. The cheapest one is $9.99/month for basic, $15.49/month for standard, $19.99/month for premium. Or Amazon Prime is $14.99 including the Prime member of Amazon. It sounds expensive with a plan like that because each individual has to deal with many things in their lives such as gas, rent, or any kind of payment. A price like that is too expensive. Understanding that Apple+ has only $4.99 per month but the content is still limited.

The importance of streaming services nowadays is undeniable. It is a special trend that can never go away. Soon, more and more entertainment companies begin to move their production to streaming platforms in order to make the audience easier to access. But no matter how convenient the streaming services are, things like movie theaters and television will stay the same. Changing has to happen but there are things that streaming services cannot do. It is the experience and the trend which had stayed inside each person for a long time.