 |
| Image courtesy of www.twitter.com |
Nah don't worry, I get it. You probably can't afford it and honestly with all the pies you need to put your fingers in these days, but that's something I want to talk about because with the understandable attitude of making money that corporations have, how much is too much? Well I can already answer that so allow me.
So to put this into context, I already have Netflix and Amazon Prime. My brother lets me use his Netflix and my parents bought into Amazon Prime, on top of all the sports channels that we have which eats into our savings, I try to remain as grounded and grateful as I can be in regard to what my parents allow me to have. But for the purpose of this article, I will talk about the streaming services that we have.
I wanted Netflix after I heard that Marvel were developing shows to stream exclusively on the platform that were all interconnected, they being Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, the team up show The Defenders and last but not least, The Punisher. I have gone on to enjoy plenty of other exclusive shows such as Stranger Things and Gypsy, as well as finding a load of movies I wouldn't have been able to find elsewhere. As for Amazon Prime, we got it after The Grand Tour was announced but I don't really use it for much else since we can't use it on any other device other than the TV in the living room, and I don't like depriving my parents of their own source of entertainment.
The impact that these services have had are really becoming a pain for traditional broadcasted television, since the modern day consumer doesn't align with broadcasting's placing of time, meaning it's more now becoming if a consumer has time for their media rather than the media having time for the consumer. Even before streaming services were popularised, I remember my parents buying a Sky box for our TV when I was young because I wanted to watch Dora The Explorer right when the school bus arrived.
So with this growing demand in mind for streaming services, it seems that every single production company now want a bite of the pie. This coming as Disney have announced that they will be pulling all their properties from Netflix and other streaming services, and placing not only their existing movies and shows (this including Disney owned brands such as Marvel and Star Wars) but also original content onto their own streaming service.
Now, this worries me ever so slightly. If I could liken it to anything, it's like Britain leaving the European Union or Catalonia leaving Spain, by that I mean it could spark a whole chain reaction of other production companies breaking off and making their own streaming services. All the power to these companies because I can't expect them to appeal to the convenience of the consumer at the expense of losing a shit tonne of money, I feel like there's a line that may be crossed here.
Just putting aside for a second the belief that Netflix may lose out big time, I honestly believe with the original series' and the small independent movies, that this could mean for a big boost for the indies and Netflix as well as all the other streaming services. I think they'll be fine, what concerns me is the possible hit in the pocket for us, the consumer.
Think about it, imagine a household of people who want to watch all these amazing movies by these studios as well as all these great shows they're hearing about, like that upcoming Star Wars TV show, but they're already paying way too much as it is. I mean, such a high profile show as Star Wars would probably be on top of their priority list but my point is, if Fox make a streaming service and Warner Brothers make a streaming service as do Universal and DreamWorks as well as Paramount and MGM, okay maybe a some of those wouldn't as they're a bit obscure.
Regardless, do you see my point? I call this the 'pizza' effect, no not the kind it has on me where I can't move for a few hours after consuming it. What I mean is, if you make the pizza too big with the same amount of cheese, then eventually it'll become hallow and not taste as nice. I'd hope that metaphor works because I think it does.
I honestly believe this will majorly screw with the consumer, with too much being asked of them for too little of a reward, I honestly think this will backfire. It just takes the companies big enough to be able to have their own separate service to do it before the much smaller money hungry people to perform a reactionary move, think the demand is there for their properties to be successful in their own right on their own streaming service, see how weak it does and temporarily screw over the consumer.
Again, I can't fault them for wanting to make money, it's how the world works, but there has to be a balance because if these companies try and break off into their own individual streaming services then we won't be able to pay all of them unless we were all very rich, which we aren't. This is why I have a proposal to make, and this applies to all streaming services.
Okay so let's say we can have an incredibly basic membership, the service is free (Hold on, it isn't all clear cut) but, advertisements play. I would hope people would understand that if they don't part with money, then they'll have to watch advertisements and I don't see that as a bad trade off, I mean one issue could be if someone installs AdBlock then maybe a workaround could be this type of membership only be allowed on gaming consoles or part of a TV package as appose to a computer which can utilise AdBlock.
I know that sounds a bit too good to be true and it probably is, an alternative would be paying an extremely small sum and still getting advertisements running, but maybe a free membership where you have to pay to buy the films or series that you want to watch, like what they do on YouTube. Which sounds shit, like getting a mobile game where it's free but to do literally anything, you have to buy it, but I don't mean it as in a progression necessity but more just buying what you know you want to watch.
If Amazon had it, I could just buy all episodes of The Grand Tour and be on my way. Maybe if I was interested in watching Preacher or definitely the upcoming Hanna series, I would buy those as well and not bother looking elsewhere. Maybe you could charge per series and only have access to them either on rent for a fraction of the cost for buying them completely.
I am of course trying to strike a balance between consumer engagement and corporate profit, I don't claim to be an expert in any of these areas of course so if there's a detail I have missed, feel free to tell me in the comment section below. That's the thing about me, I have the basic outlines for an idea that I wouldn't have proposed if I didn't see a benefit everywhere, and leave it to the actual experts to refine it ready for execution or discussion.
However, don't say I'm being naïve because I'm not, I know for a fact that the head of Disney won't read this and act on it thinking it's in the best interest. I'm just worried for the future of entertainment should everyone start thinking they need to divide everything into their own piece of the consumer pie and really screwing us over. That's why I'd like to see my solution implemented, but I know it won't happen, at least not now when the corporations have the dollar sign eyes.
If there's anything I'd like to end on, it's again that we need to be hopeful but remain realistic, this inevitable implosion of greed will be a huge inconvenience of us but as ever, we are all part of this environment and either it will destroy us or it will change. If we speak with our wallets, of course it will change but because of how I see it going, not only will it be a case of us having to speak with our wallets or refusing to bow to the system, we will just be physically unable to do so.
So let's brave this corporate storm and I'll see you out on the other side.
Thank you everyone for reading. As ever if you're new here, follow me on Twitter @TheLucaFormat and if you're on laptop, look for the Follow By Email option if you want to have my articles sent straight to your inbox. Before I bid you my farewell, I want to ask, if I gave this blog a new name, what would you guys come up with? I kind of want to include the word 'Blab' in there, I kind of like the word and it works with my articles being very much blabs. Keep the word Red in there, so right now I have Red's Blab. Not sure how I feel about it on its own, let me know any ideas you have.
Anyway, so until we meet again.
Luca.
No comments:
Post a Comment