Physical media has lost its hold over consumers. That’s no secret. Homes have less access to devices that play DVDs than they used to. Computers and laptops rarely have disk drives anymore. Game consoles are still able to play DVDs, funnily enough.
Nonetheless, when was the last time you bought a physical copy of anything? A CD? A movie on a DVD. A game?
Why bother when we can stream on demand or have it downloaded in an hour or two?
Control. That’s why.
A streaming service may have lost the rights to a certain show. Now you must wait for it to return or search for the show’s next home. You’ll have to buy or rent access separately. A show or movie could also be taken off all services entirely — no access to it at all.
It would not be the case if you had a copy to keep as long as you wanted it. Internet is down? It’s not a problem. Pop in a disk and be on your way.
As long as VOD reigns supreme, companies are hoping you take up more paid plans.
Everything needs a subscription now. One-time purchases for a piece of content are getting less common. The value of convenience has surmounted all else in this area. The costs add up.
The image above does not reference the most expensive options these services have, nor the cheaper ones. It shows a middle-ground set of options with popular streaming services.
Streaming used to be a way around the high prices of cable. The prices are now looming uncomfortably close. And there are so many different streaming services out there hoping for you to subscribe.
These cheaper selections offset their low price by including advertisements during your usage. So, each movie or show will have ad breaks. Like regular television.
Despite how much consumers pay to access individual streaming sites, it is a new and unprofitable business overall. It takes years to get beyond losses. The good deals that catch your eye fade and a subscription will creep up higher and higher. Family plans are being cracked down on, too. Prices are on an upward trend.
Of course, nobody is forcing consumers to have multiple subscriptions at one time. That’s why the costs are so high. Yet, it is unfair for the consumer to have programs behind multiple paywalls because providers want to squeeze as much money out of their content as they can.
Streaming used to be about controlling shows and watching what you wanted when you wanted. But there is less and less control in our hands with every new streaming service splitting up access.
Cable TV is still the same. No control, too many ad breaks, and another remote we don’t need. Streaming isn’t on a path leading to anything better.
The constant rise in service costs will continue to grow until subscribers reach their limit. For example, Netflix’s price bump alongside not letting families share across households. More individual subscriptions generate income from families originally sharing one.
But at the end of 2023, Netflix had a major boost in subscriptions. This major boost in numbers shows the initial backlash against banning shared accounts was not enough. Netflix gained increased income, subscriber counts, and longevity. Since this venture succeded, other services will become braver to do the same thing.
Statista notes:
After adding 5.9 million paid subscriptions worldwide between March and June and a whopping 8.8 million from July to September, the final quarter of 2023 saw the company increase its subscriber base by 13.1 million to roughly 260 million.
Their strategy was a success.
You get a few options. Ads and low costs, no ads and high costs, or nothing at all. At least with this, it is one thing the consumer can still control. The choice is yours to some extent.
Such is the end of one-time purchases and mass usage of physical media. Cable was overtaken by a similar fate. Streaming uses this to its major advantage. The person who wants to enjoy the content loses out the most.
