The Streaming Wars Heating Up

Streaming is becoming a mess for Hollywood. The major movie studios are still in trouble. As we see things progress, newer players are starting to make an impact.

This is something that was covered in the past. However, as we move forward, the fragmentation of things is starting to really become evident.

Here is what things look like for the month of July according to Nielson.

What stands out is the tOP.

YouTube and Netflix command almost 19% of the market. When we add in Prime video, from a technology company, we are at 22%.

To offer some contrast, here is what June looked like.

The biggest difference is the jump in streaming. This is a significant move in one month. The percentage went from 40.3% to 41.4%. As we can see it came from the other 3 categories.

It is little wonder why the media companies are having to write down the assets on their linear television. It is dying.

More Streaming On The Way

The category to watch, going forward, will be the Other Streaming. It remained unchanged at 6.0%.

We are going to see a lot more entrants into this realm. For example, just this week we get the announcement of two streaming services.

The first is a shift away from cable.

NASA’s free streaming service, NASA+, lifted off late last year, and now, to focus on its streaming service, NASA will be shutting down its cable networks on August 26, 2024. NASA announced this move back in July but only stated it would happen in August, now Cord Cutters News can confirm that on August 26, 2024, NASA’s cable TV network will shut down.

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This might not alter much other than moving some of the cable into the streaming category. It is unlikely that many new subscribers will be gained through the Switch to streaming.

Another story deals with a restaurant. Chick-Fil-A is going to enter the streaming market.

In a surprising move, fast-food giant Chick-fil-A is venturing into the entertainment industry with plans to launch its own streaming platform featuring original family-friendly content. The company has reportedly been collaborating with major production companies and studios to develop unscripted shows, and is also in the process of licensing and acquiring additional content. This comes at a time when it seems everyone wants to get into streaming, and family-friendly content is increasingly becoming a major focus for many.

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On its own, I would say this means little. However, the point here is the collective impact that can be made.

It is becoming easier to get into the streaming business. We are going to see many entities join the battle going forward. While none will ever likely appear on the list about, we could see further dilution of attention. Remember, this game is all about eyeballs.

Technological Innovation

Video is now in line with text 30 years ago.

When the Internet first gained popularity, one of the first industries decimated was newspapers. They were hit almost immediately with many of the going out of business in the late 1990s-early 2000s.

The reason for this is the monopoly on information was broken. Each time someone opened an email application, there was news. It was everywhere. Basically, who needed the newspapers anymore.

Video was ripe for the same disruption. What saved it was not the industry but the technology. Video is a difficult media to deal with.

When YouTube came out, most in developed countries were still on dial-up. Storage was costly and individuals were creating content on flimsy webcams.

The same is not true today.

Video creation can be done by anyone with a smartphone. Free online editing software seems many "amateur" content creators producing some quality stuff. shorts is now a massive business, lowering the barrier a great deal more.

That means we can look to the world of print information to see how this will unfold.

There is little dispute that information is fragmented. In addition to all the major sites, we have people on Medium and Substack posting their views. Others have set up their own blogs through Wordpress.

All of this amounts to a major fragmentation. Even a few dozen views would have, in the past, been directed at the major sources.

No longer.

Video is moving in the same direction. YouTube being the largest streamer is not a great surprise. The company has positioned itself as one of the leader when it comes to hours of content available. Even if most of it is awful, the quantity factor means it is hard to compete with.

My view is fragmentation will continue, only driving this process further out.

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