The Golden age streaming has ended. Just to be clear, this is not a commentary on the quality of shows and movies on the streaming service. Instead, it was a collective sigh in response to today’s news that Netflix is spreading its long-standing rumor advertising support service on November 1, a hasty move that would beat the launch of Disney +its own ad-supported service for about a month. In a nutshell, readers, streaming looks more like terrestrial television than ever before.
In the past few years, when media companies merge and merge Their “brands” and services, it’s clear that consumers are facing a world where the Big Three of TV — NBC, CBS, ABC — will be replaced by a new Big Three. Maybe it’s Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+; maybe it’s Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Apple TV+. The streaming giants are still fighting for dominance, but the simple truth remains: most people get their content from several streamers. Add to that the fact that those legacy channels now have their own offerings like Peacock and Paramount+ and everything old is new again.
This is not the future we promised. When players like Netflix show up, their claim to fame is that they are “disruptors,” here to shake up Hollywood by giving people what they want, when they want it. Consumers are racing to “cut the cord” and give up their cable TV packages to watch prestigious television over the internet. It worked. Streaming explodes. Then, when the competition crept in and viewers started to realize they were spending almost as much money on internet subscriptions and streaming as they used to to pay for cable, they clamored for new options, more affordable prices. The only way to do that – an old story – is to have their products subsidized by advertisers.
In the last year, as Netflix stock price and number of subscribers shrunk, it raced to develop an ad-supported model in pursuit of users and revenue. During a call with reporters today to announce the new $6.99/month plan, Netflix CEO Greg Peters noted that “we built Basic with Ads in six months.” At launch — first in Canada and Mexico along with the US, UK and other regions later in the month — it will beat Disney+’s launch to its ad-supported model for the price. $7.99 per month on December 8. During the call, Peters said the company doesn’t “fix” its launch time or pricing around the competition, but time suggests a change. big change, the beginning of streaming as viewers know it.
Consider it a self-fulfilling prophecy. Back in July, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings predicted the demise of linear TV in “…Next 5 to 10 years. What he didn’t say was that Netflix and other streamers would appear in its place. Deals are a little different — less advertising on streaming than on network TV; free network TV — but with each streaming channel it looks like the television of 50 years ago. (See also: Starting in 2023, Netflix will be watched by Nielsen — a big move for a company that has closely guarded its viewership.) Linear TV may end, but Its alternative is no more than eye-catching.
