Bigger than the Big Screen?

How the online streaming companies are taking over the showbiz industry?

Once upon a time, people used to be dependent on the cable and satellite TV for their daily dose of entertainment. Adhering to the inflexible program schedule, limited viewing options, fixed time-slots, and the high cost plan was the status quo, which led to an outcry for better options, and the streaming industry was born. Netflix and Amazon Prime were developed and the showbiz industry was never the same!

Not only did they take over the TV industry but also revamped the entire cinema experience for the viewers. Binge-watching became the next cool thing. The game was changed completely, and it may as well be just the tip of the iceberg.

By fusing Silicon Valley technology with nearly every aspect of Hollywood, Netflix was successful in garnering more than 117 million subscribers across nearly every country in the world, and employs more than 5,500 people now.

How Netflix and Amazon Prime are taking over the showbiz industry?

CRUSHING THE COMPETITION:

Television and cinema industries have hit a wall thanks to streaming options like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, etc. Television revenues have collapsed under the weight of cord-cutting and competition from various online video streaming platforms. Over-the-top providers of streaming content are vying in every way possible for a bigger number of eyeballs. Given the number of subscribers who stream content daily, over one billion hours of content are streamed per week. They are providing not only quality original content at an affordable price but are also available on almost all kinds of devices and supports user profiles.

AUDIENCE FRAGMENTATION:

The so-called new golden age of online binging is quickly turning into a murky quagmire of excessive content and absolute fragmentation. The rising popularity of the site has ultimately led to the decreasing interest in socializing. The sheer number of people recording shows and movies and watching them several days after they air is huge. It also contributes to antisocial behaviour as most people, including elders, choose it over enjoying the company of others.

THE NEW NORMAL:

A Netflix survey found that 61% of users regularly watch between 2–6 episodes of a show in one sitting. When binge watching a particular show, the brain produces dopamine, that can cause drug-like high. A recent survey showed that 73% of the respondents binged watched various series considering it ‘normal’ and a form of social acceptance. Online video streaming services have over connected humans to their websites at the cost of human-human interaction, eventually resulting in emotional loss.

CREATING COMPELLING ORIGINAL PROGRAMS:

In just three years, Netflix and Amazon have shaken up the television industry and have upped their game in creating original content of their own — and getting acclaim for it. For example Narcos, Bosch, Orange Is The New Black etc. Netflix produced shows that traditional TV networks might have passed on because they were too controversial. Its appetite for risk paid off, attracting talents from the cinema sector followed by awards. Amazon has been making enough headway on the awards front with its own slate of original programming. Netflix and Amazon spend more than $10bn (£7.6bn) annually on content, with a significant proportion on original content

REVOLUTIONIZING HOME ENTERTAINMENT:

The influx of the streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video expeditiously changed how the average person watches TV, giving a complete new dimension to the home entertainment. Where these streaming services provided unlimited access to large amounts of movies and television shows from different parts of the world, cable networks gave its subscribers limited viewing options. The subscribers of the Netflix and Amazon Prime Video enjoy shows and movies that would never make it to the standard cable networks or the traditional commercial broadcast networks. While large broadcast companies restricted to conventional plotlines and characters for most of their shows, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video created content based on different themes and plotlines to cater to the large masses. These streaming industry giants offer a big relief to people who are reluctant to pay exorbitant prices.

Ever since Netflix expanded its operations to streaming media in 2007, video-on-demand streaming has become a phenomenon. Along with Netflix, companies like Amazon and Hulu have created a new market that is changing the way people view movies, TV shows, and video content in general. As of 2017, Amazon’s video on demand service, Amazon Prime Video, occupies the second position in the growing video-on-demand industry, with around 26 million subscribers in the United States alone.

They proved streaming. They proved international expansion. They proved profitability. They proved original content. And they proved pricing power.

Online streaming companies have broken the mold for how television is made, watched, rated — and how ratings influence future content. The landscape of home entertainment has been completely altered and we cannot be more excited for what their future has in store for us!

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