Who will be the winners and losers in the upcoming streaming wars?

[kingaliencracker]

Not all studios have the library to branch out on their own. I don't see Paramount, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures getting their own services. They sell exclusivity to any service willing to pay for it. Warner as locked down streaming exclusivity for shows like Doctor Who and South Park for HBO Max.

Amazon has the revenue to absorb the "lesser" studios' content if push came to shove. They are more suited for that role than Netflix is, which seems to be shifting their entire focus to original content.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

A number of studios like Lionsgate and older ones are placing their product on Tubi. It as a platform allows them to charge for commercials and do ok enough to not worry about trying to compete with the bigger streaming companies price wise. Its free and they are happy to get that small change from it.

The company with the most to lose is NBC/Universal. They only wanted 21st Century Fox for the streaming and controlling 60% of Hulu to have a bigger piece of streaming. They lost out on the deal and now are looking to unload the 30% piece of Hulu to start their own streaming service in a year or two. But judging from the NBC streaming service ...its gonna be absolute ****.

They are comically trying to charge people to watch 10-12 year old Saturday Night Live episodes on there. Comcast are so delusional their own price points on streaming will sink them as this shows. Even when they get the Office back from Netflix and pull their movies/shows , they are so stupid they will try and charge a huge premium price for really not much. Then will lock movies and shows away so no one can watch for years as the service struggles.

[Theleviathan]

At what point do we come full circle and dish networks or cable companies offer us a bundled streaming package that's basically what used to be cable TV?

Oh...and Disney is going to kick some ass with this.

[Tofali]

Winners:

1. Netflix. Sorry the brand awareness is strong and they are streaming and are the auto default for everyone.

2. Amazon, just the fact that prime is a thing and there are so many benefits with it, it sorta becomes a no brainer

3. Hulu/Disney. The package will make it work and make it an excellent third choice.

Imo that's 30 bucks a month.

I think HBO might also have a shot.

Anyways I think the network services will lose.

I hardly watch Netflix originals and I have Netflix. I'm sure there are a lot of subscribers like me who would ditch Netflix when their favourite shows and movies are removed.

[AdventureBliss]

Difficult to say. I pay for my sattelite as SKy still provide the majority of the sport I want to watch. I pay for Netflix and WWE network. I'll pay for Disney when it launches here but I refuse top pay for any more services than that as it gets too expensive.

Ultimately I think any service based more around being the only way to watch one or two shows will fail rather than ones which offer a lot of content.

[DrNewGod]

To be honest, I wonder if the network streaming losers will consider shifting content to Netflix when belts start to tighten up, based on the thought that part of a sure thing is a better deal than all of a failing venture.

I think some kind of consolidation likely as share of wallet becomes an issue. Those with huge libraries of well-known properties are going to have some pricing power. Those with small libraries, or trying to do mainly original content are likely to struggle. I think it at least as likely, however, that the big players will swallow the small as opposed to Netflix assembling some kind of confederacy of smaller studios.

[Gaastra]

PlayStation Vue is shutting down.

https://blog.us.playstation.com/2019...aystation-vue/

And Wal-Mart may be selling vudu (not sure if these count as vudu is more of a digital movie channel)

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/walm...-selling-vudu/


As for Disney plus/ apple plus/ HBO max/ CBS all access, we just signed up for Disney plus. We have Netflix and boomerang for classic cartoons also. Watch the free versions with ads for crunchyroll and have hulu with the $40 cable bundle.

HBO max sounds great also with the studio ghibili films and classic films and might get it but may drop Netflix next year to get it! (can't afford all these streaming services)

Don't care about apple and cbs at all and no one knows what universals will be yet.

As for wb vs Disney here are the two streaming channels shows.

Disney plus

[Gaastra]

HBO max--

[LordLeviathan]

I think waht will help netflix is his footing in the international and animation market

[Mister Mets]

I expect Disney will win because they have such impressive IP. On the other hand, they've spent a lot of time obtaining it.

Netflix has good infrastructure, but I'm not sure their approach of canceling popular stuff works all that well. They also spend a lot of money and don't have as much IP as some of the other companies. Stranger Things is a hit but it's no Simpsons. Or Duck Tales. Or Star Wars. Or Marvel.

Amazon Prime Video is also more of a side-aspect to Amazon Prime. The economics of it are different, which makes the questions messier (it's hard to figure out how many viewers are buying Amazon Prime for faster shipping and how many like the shows.)

Hulu is probably getting officially bought by Disney.

HBO Max/ Warner is more expensive, but they have good IP and a slightly different brand than Disney (if Disney is mostly all-ages, HBO/ Max has more critically-acclaimed R-rated stuff.)

Apple TV+ is trying to make a splashy intro, and there is the possibility that Apple will try to make it tougher to use the other streaming services on Ipads and Iphones if they get desperate. I don't see the market opening.

[AndrewCrossett]

I agree that Netflix needs to drop the "three seasons and done" policy it seems to have been operating on in recent years. Not sure what the point of that is in the case of popular shows. On a streaming show there is no finite number of timeslots and so no need to get rid of the old to make way for the new. If they're smart they'll figure that out. If they're not they'll die and Charles Darwin will shrug.

[Theleviathan]

I agree that Netflix needs to drop the "three seasons and done" policy it seems to have been operating on in recent years. Not sure what the point of that is in the case of popular shows. On a streaming show there is no finite number of timeslots and so no need to get rid of the old to make way for the new. If they're smart they'll figure that out. If they're not they'll die and Charles Darwin will shrug.

They're letting Stranger Things go past 3 right? It might just be that the show has to demonstrate exceptionalism to warrant more than that.

Frankly, only exceptional shows tend to be good past 2-3 seasons anyway from where I sit.

[Gray Lensman]

They're letting Stranger Things go past 3 right? It might just be that the show has to demonstrate exceptionalism to warrant more than that.

Frankly, only exceptional shows tend to be good past 2-3 seasons anyway from where I sit.

Exceptional and profitable. Netflix dropped the Marvel shows because they realized they needed many more viewers than anything else they made in order to make it worthwhile. Licensing adds to the expense of making anything.

[DanMad1977]

I am pumped for Disney+, but I have to wait awhile before it hits Europe.

Currently I am with Netflix, but there is less and less content I am interested in, so who knows maybe I will ditch it in the future.

Amazon, I cancel it when my shows take a break and rehire when they start over. I hate Amazon for certain reasons...

Sky: its the most expensive one, but its the best.

Everything else I am not interested.

[AndrewCrossett]

I think Netflix dropped the Marvel shows because they knew they were about to lose Marvel to Disney+ anyway.

Considering that Netflix shows average only about 10 episodes per season, seems like even a "very good" show should run for more than 3 seasons. They will build and (more importantly now) maintain their viewer base by letting people continue to watch the shows they enjoy watching. Shows like Stranger Things that become household names are rare, and will get rarer as the competition increases.