The Streaming Wars
On August 29, 1997, Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded a small company called “Netflix.” This was meant to be a DVD renting service with 925 titles available on the website that launched on April 14, 1998. The idea was you can rent a DVD disc that would be mailed directly to your home. I specifically remember my family using this and renting “Back to the Future Part 2.” It wasn’t until January of 2007 when Netflix announced it would launch streaming video. The company was moving away from mailing DVDs to specifically streaming media on demand. At the time, this was revolutionary and paved the way for other streaming services on the horizon as well as the downfall of cable networks.
Families and households across the world have been cutting their cable networks in favor of a cheaper alternative found in streaming services. Not only has Netflix become a staple of most households, a study found that 55% of U.S. homes have more than one streaming service.
Although Netflix has held the title of the most dominant streaming service across the world for years now, Disney Plus has given it a run for its money. After Netflix released popular originals like “Orange is the New Black” and “Stranger Things,” it’d only make sense for the other platforms to follow suite.
Disney Plus launched in November of 2019 and already reached 86.8 million subscribers by December of 2020. Disney’s focus on original and exclusive content has been the main factor for its sharp increase. Disney Plus CFO Christine McCarthy spoke on this at the company’s investor day last December that they project the subscription rate to land between 230 and 260 million by 2024, which is on track to pass Netflix to be the number one streaming service. With Disney Plus’s upcoming slate filled to the top with original Star Wars and Marvel Shows, I don’t believe this is far fetched at all. After experiencing new Star Wars and Marvel shows, Disney+ seems to have set themselves up for success with each show bringing in new subscribers. Below is a graphic displaying the leaders in the streaming service wars.
As I am currently a college student that has been taking most of my classes online for the past year, streaming has become my life. It’s no doubt that COVID-19 has played a role into how much people are using streaming since it’s the most convenient way to consume media. This is no different than the households I have been in.
I am currently living in a 4-person apartment with three others who share the same love for movies and TV as I do. Thus, it’s not too surprising that with our collected efforts, we have access to almost every streaming service through shared passwords and what not. This is something I already knew though. To learn more about their individual habits, I sat down with two of my roommates Chandler Page and Alexis Vought. I wanted to try to understand their perspective on streaming and their experiences growing up.
As expected, both Alexis and Chandler have a current subscription to Netflix and was also the first streaming service they each used. I also wasn’t shocked to see they also use Amazon Prime as many families have a Prime membership for their Amazon shopping habits and the fast-shipping rates. I was surprised, however, to learn they both use Hulu as well. When asked which streaming service they believe is the weakest, they both mentioned Hulu because of its “dated design” and “lack of original content” when compared to services like Disney Plus and Netflix. Netflix has even released promotional videos that highlight all the new original content they will be releasing every single week this year.
Page and Vought also mentioned the addition of advertisements in their shows and movies is a huge drawback for them. Page said if they have to pay for a streaming service, “you shouldn’t have to have ads” (Page). Vought didn’t want to put all the blame on Hulu, however. She mentions Amazon Prime has a “really janky format” that can be “confusing” and “could benefit from having more content” (Vought).
Amazon Prime has always been interesting to me. At the forefront, it’s a way for shoppers to save money on shipping and receiving orders within a couple days from one platform, Amazon. The addition of Prime Video almost seems like an afterthought, though the service has proven its stay with originals like “The Boys” and a newly released animated series, “Invincible.” It seems Prime is also taking this route of weekly releases and has seen the success Disney Plus has had with their original shows.
When asked about which service they use more frequently, both Chandler and Alexis agreed that Netflix may be the strongest in terms of its popularity and content haul. However, they have found themselves to use it less and less. This year has a seen a huge uproar in Disney+ content as “The Mandalorian” finished its second season with Marvel Studios releasing two of their original shows, “WandaVision” and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” Both shows have proven to be huge hits across the world with fans and critics alike. Vought says the weekly release schedule allows for “more conversation between episodes,” which helps build up the traction and popularity. HBO Max seems to want to replicate that formula as several exclusive shows are in development for a weekly release schedule.
The pandemic has also called for theatrical releases to release on streaming as well as in theaters. HBO Max revealed all of their movies releasing in 2021 with also stream for 30 days free of charge. Disney Plus has done something similar offering “Premiere Access” to these releases. The difference is you pay $29.99 to download and own a movie that released in theaters that same day. Disney has done this with titles like “Mulan,” “Raya and the Last Dragon,” as well as the upcoming Marvel release “Black Widow” this July. This is almost certain to bring in a wave of new subscribers as it will be the first theatrical film Marvel Studios releases in 2 years since “Spider-Man: Far From Home” in July of 2019.
Below is a line chart that displays the global subscriber count for the following streaming platforms: Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, and Apple TV. Please note that Disney+ launched in 2019 as well as Apple TV, followed by HBO Max in 2020.
Regardless of how much you use streaming or what you think of the overabundance of new services being announced, you can’t deny the transition we have seen in households across the world. With more people using streaming now than ever, it’s hard to imagine cable networks make any sort of comeback. Streaming services have been on the horizon for some time, and it won’t be long till they completely overpower cable companies.
With the combination of families spending more time at home and the new original content releasing every week, the streaming wars have begun.
