Streaming: How Digital Media is Transforming the Film Industry
Services:
Streaming services provide a wide range of content without the need to leave your home. Some services are free, such as BBC iPlayer and All4, whereas others you have to pay for, whether that be a subscription service, such as Netflix or Disney+, or individual rentals, such as Wuaki.tv.
Some streaming services provide a mixture, such as Amazon Prime, which provides some free-to-watch movies and some on a rental or purchase basis. Some services came from already existing production companies, like Disney+, whereas others created their own production companies after creating their streaming providers, like Netflix.
Personal Reccomendations:
One opportunity created by moving films to digital services is personalised content and recommendations. It allows the viewer to get recommendations based on their viewing history. Maria shows how Spotify (music streaming service) achieves this; by tracking our online engagement with the service.
Similar technology is used for film streaming platforms but could be improved. For it to recommend you things from the start of your subscription, it could ask you a short quiz and, using the same technology, give you recommendations as soon as you sign up, instead of having to trawl through the seemingly endless libraries of films.
Wide Range of Content:
It is no secret that streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime have a seemingly endless amount of content on their platforms. There are definite positives and negatives to this. The main positive is catering to a wider audience of people. For example, Disney+ has brought in Star, a channel on their platform catered towards adults, to widen their audience.
However, the negative is that people are wasting time picking something to watch. Having film recommendations as soon as you’ve signed up will help combat this, but a clearer division of genre might also help to narrow down choices.
Subscription vs One-Time Payment:
One opportunity of digital media for the film industry is a subscription service rather than one time payments. Eliminating the often expensive one-time payments of the cinema means that it is cheaper overall. Audiences pay monthly to watch a massive amount of content rather than paying roughly £7 every time you see a film, which is more expensive than most streaming platforms.
In order to maximise profits, however, a streaming service could charge for new releases, similar to Disney+, in order to avoid losing money they would normally get at the box office.
Interactive Content:
Another opportunity that Netflix has capitalised on is interactive media. The use of multiple ending and choice-based content allows the viewer to be more engaged and actually feel a part of the show or film they are watching. This is also something that cannot be achieved in the cinema.
I think more streaming services should do this if they can afford to do so. It creates a unique experience for the viewer. The most popular paying streaming services tend to have a unique element to them and interactive content is definitely something that gives a streaming platform the edge.
New Production Studios:
Digital platforms aroused newfound popularity and allowed them to create production studios. Netflix and Amazon Prime started to create original content, debuting this feature with “House of Cards” and “Alpha House” respectively. This gave platforms opportunities to expand and cater content directly to what their audience wants.
This has been a huge success, particularly for Netflix. Their most-watched shows are original content, such as “The Witcher” and “Bridgerton”. This is different for original content on platforms such as Disney+ because they were established as a production studio before creating their digital service.
Unique Viewing Experience?:
One drawback to digitising films is the loss of the unique viewing experience you get from the cinema. You cannot deny that there is something special about a day out at the cinema, watching a movie on the big screen. But by watching these new films at home, all of that excitement and uniqueness is gone.
Great film directors, such as Martin Scorcese, have said that the streaming service and algorithms are ruining the film industry. Cinema is being undermined by the umbrella term of “content” on these streaming platforms.
How to make your platform stand out:
So, what gives a platform the competitive edge over others? We can learn from Netflix, which has the most original content, was the first to have interactive content and was the first to have the “party”, where you can watch a film at the same time as others on different devices.
This is a very popular feature, especially at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It allowed people to watch their favourite shows and films together, even if they were not. Other streaming services now have this feature off the back of Netflix’s success over the lockdown.
Getting the Balance Right:
Getting the balance of content right is hard for a digitised film platform. If you don’t have enough content then you're limiting your audience. If you have too much content, your audience will spend more time choosing what to watch than actually watching content!
A streaming service I feel has a good balance of content is Disney+. They have different channels: Disney originals for classics and original TV shows, Pixar for their animations, Marvel for superhero films, Star Wars, National Geographic for nature documentaries and Star for content catered to adults. This streamlines choice based on preference.
Illegal Streams:
With digitised films comes pirated content. How do streaming services prevent this? Well, with streaming services, you pay for high quality, HD streaming. Often pirated films are of low quality and poorly recorded.
If you cannot afford to pay monthly to watch content then you can use a service where you pay to rent or buy a film, such as Amazon or iTunes. This way, you only pay when you can afford it, rather than committing to a monthly subscription. There are also free, legal places to watch content, such as All4, BBC iPlayer (with a TV licence) YouTube.
