The so-called streaming economy had been accelerating over the last decade; however, it skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic, when millions of people around the world found themselves confined to their homes and with many hours of leisure time to fill through screens.
In addition, movie theaters had to close, which encouraged a trend that seemed solid, but has now stalled. A report by the Motion Picture Association, a non-profit organization based in the United States formed to look after the interests of the studios, shows that, in just two seasons, the market for digital productions grew by 36%.
Thus, while in 2019 it barely represented 46%, which is less than half of the total, in 2021 it already exceeded 72%, more than two thirds. This category of the streaming economy includes both feature films and other entertainment content, whether consumed on smart TV receivers or via mobile devices such as phones or tablets.
In 2020 alone, subscriptions to streaming services increased by 14%. Netflix, with approximately 231 million subscribers, finished last fiscal year as the leader. Amazon Prime (205 million) and Disney (164.2 million) came in second and third, respectively. However, problems and threats to the stability of the business remain.
For example, HBO Max canceled or stopped renewing several programs on the platform at the end of the year, including Westworld, Love life or Minx.
For professor Luis Cabral, who is the head of the economics department at New York University, one of the factors that explains this turbulence is “enormous cannibalism” and “great fragmentation” in the industry. For this reason, he adds, there are viewers who even miss “the old days of cable”.
The main drawback of that model was that citizens had to pay for dozens of channels that they never tuned into. The advantage, however, was that they had a single supplier and didn’t have to worry about anything else. If there is no progress towards greater coordination, Professor Cabral predicts a “bloody battle” that could leave “victims” within the sector.
Paradoxically, this context is not negative for the public, adds the expert, since today is “the best time to watch audiovisual content in history”. After this statement, the editor of the specialized portal Marketplace clarifies that the shame is “that not everyone can afford six or seven subscriptions a month”. And, without denying it, Cabral retorts that previously people were used to spending a lot more money in cinemas to see far fewer films.
