The Streaming Service Bubble

[Gar For Archer]

Well, as @Gar For Archer pointed out, Hulu has the backing of the major media giants and is less prone to getting fucked over by licensing and losing shows and movies that people actually want to watch.

Even with Disney+ taken into account, Hulu will still be used by Disney to house their titles with a TV-MA or R rating, of which there are a surprising number of, and even more with the Fox merger being more or less complete.

Crunchyroll in and of itself might not survive and in fact, given its more recent dubious policies, I suspect it won't. But if it does go under, a new equivalent streaming service will take its place fairly quickly.

Anime is a niche market, but also a very viable one if you know what you're doing. Hulu and Netflix have anime titles on their services, but they only have two exclusives anyone gives a shit about (Evangelion for Netflix and Sailor Moon for Hulu)

The Clownfish TV couple believe that CR will be merged with Ellation, Cartoon Network, and some other dregs into a general animation streaming service.

Also, this is a point I forgot to mention, but (Hollywood accounting aside) studios have a pretty clear metric for knowing which films make a return on their investment through ticket/DVD sales. With that, studios have a very clear amount they can afford to lose in flopped movies. With Netflix, this relationship is much less clear, because their main metric are their customers themselves, rather than the money customers generate. While I’m sure they have all sorts of user metrics like subscribers gained/lost after a movie drops, it’s not anywhere near as accurate or concrete as a discrete number of dollars in profit.

 

[Imperial Guardsman]

I am not surprised that more companies are trying their hand at their own streaming service.

Netflix: I think they will be gone as a streaming service withing the next decade. They will exist as a licensor for their fully originals (House of Cards, BoJack, etc) because they are reasonably popular so another service would want to pick them up.

Amazon Prime: I think their "free with prime" series will eventually be limited to just their own creations as more companies pull their stuff for their own services. It will stay up as a place to buy and stream content.

Hulu: I think once Disney has full control it will either be shut down entirely or kept purely as a place for Disney's more adult centered content (their Touchstone Pictures and Fox libraries).

Disney+: Will be their mainstream and family friendly streaming service. Some content geared towards adult but that are also acceptable for kids.

CBS Now: CBS-Viacom will pull their things onto this. So South Park, Star Trek, Nickelodeon shows, and others will all be here. It could fail but nothing is certain.

HBO Now/GO: I am not sure with this one. It could survive but I am not sure how/why especially considering most films will just go to their producers streaming service.

Peacock (NBC Universal):This will be kept alive by fans of Friends and The Office going there to watch them on repeat forever (most of Netflix's use now) as well as be where you need to go to see Universal and Dreamworks (Universal owns them)

WWE Network: They will survive as the only place to watch pro-wrestle wrestle content.

Funimation: I think they will survive as long as the service makes a small profit and they keep the liscenses for their more popular series. They still have a monopoly on anime dubbing in the US. Though I think Crunchyroll has stolen their virtual monopoly.

Crunchyroll: They will continue to be fine and continue to grow unless they really fuck up and keep trying to make original content.

HIDIVE: I think Sentai Filmworks will eventually shut this down and make a deal with Crunchyroll for streaming. With Funimation ending their deal with Crunchyroll it sounds like a good business move to help grow their audience.

YouTube Red/Premium: has no future. It may survive as Googles rent/buy movies and tv shows to stream but i think Amazon will be the leader in that market.

In Short: Everyone will make/is making/has made a streaming service and the current leader Netflix is gonna lose alot of their current content.

 

[Syaoran Li]

I am not surprised that more companies are trying their hand at their own streaming service.

Netflix: I think they will be gone as a streaming service withing the next decade. They will exist as a licensor for their fully originals (House of Cards, BoJack, etc) because they are reasonably popular so another service would want to pick them up.

Amazon Prime: I think their "free with prime" series will eventually be limited to just their own creations as more companies pull their stuff for their own services. It will stay up as a place to buy and stream content.

Hulu: I think once Disney has full control it will either be shut down entirely or kept purely as a place for Disney's more adult centered content (their Touchstone Pictures and Fox libraries).

Disney+: Will be their mainstream and family friendly streaming service. Some content geared towards adult but that are also acceptable for kids.

CBS Now: CBS-Viacom will pull their things onto this. So South Park, Star Trek, Nickelodeon shows, and others will all be here. It could fail but nothing is certain.

HBO Now/GO: I am not sure with this one. It could survive but I am not sure how/why especially considering most films will just go to their producers streaming service.

Peacock (NBC Universal):This will be kept alive by fans of Friends and The Office going there to watch them on repeat forever (most of Netflix's use now) as well as be where you need to go to see Universal and Dreamworks (Universal owns them)

WWE Network: They will survive as the only place to watch pro-wrestle wrestle content.

Funimation: I think they will survive as long as the service makes a small profit and they keep the liscenses for their more popular series. They still have a monopoly on anime dubbing in the US. Though I think Crunchyroll has stolen their virtual monopoly.

Crunchyroll: They will continue to be fine and continue to grow unless they really fuck up and keep trying to make original content.

HIDIVE: I think Sentai Filmworks will eventually shut this down and make a deal with Crunchyroll for streaming. With Funimation ending their deal with Crunchyroll it sounds like a good business move to help grow their audience.

YouTube Red/Premium: has no future. It may survive as Googles rent/buy movies and tv shows to stream but i think Amazon will be the leader in that market.

In Short: Everyone will make/is making/has made a streaming service and the current leader Netflix is gonna lose alot of their current content.

1. Agreed

2. Agreed

3. Possibly, but I could also see AT&T wanting to keep it going for their non-HBO stuff like Warner Brothers movies and the programming that belongs to the Turner channels (Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, TBS, TNT, etc.) assuming AT&T doesn't make their own streaming services for them or make them part of the HBO Go platform. Even if all the other major companies pull out, Disney will still keep Hulu for all their R and TV-MA content they have from Fox and their other subsidiaries like Touchstone and we'll likely see smaller companies use it more often as Netflix continues to falter.

4. Agreed. Considering that Disney+ will have the Disney Animated Canon, the entire Star Wars saga, and the entire run of The Simpsons at launch, to say nothing of what will be added as it goes along, there's a very good chance that Disney+ will be the leader in the streaming market.

5. If CBS-Viacom can make a streaming service work, they've got an expansive library as well, especially if they include the Paramount film library and the Viacom networks such as Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, and so on. Hell, if I were Viacom, I'd even go the extra mile and have a "retro" categories of programs for defunct channels like Spike TV or channels that suffered from severe channel drift like TV Land.

6. Peacock will probably use the Universal movie library as their main draw, although we'll also likely see people get it for stuff like Seinfeld, The Office, and Friends. If they're very smart, they might also tap into the older stuff from the USA Network like Xena: Warrior Princess (technically that was first-run syndication, but USA Network aired it a lot and it is owned by NBC Universal)

7. HBO Go will survive simply due to the sheer amount of acclaimed TV shows that aired on HBO such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Game of Thrones, or Sex and The City, to so say nothing of their many cult classics like Oz or Deadwood. You also could keep the movies going since AT&T owns both HBO and Warner Brothers, and they could supplement those titles with licensed smaller titles.

If AT&T is smart, they will expand their streaming services to include the channels that were founded by Turner, such as Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, TBS, TNT, and maybe have TCM continue as a category for all those vintage films in the Warner Brothers library.

8. Agreed. Since WWE owns so much wrestling footage, they'll keep going. After all, WWE Network was the first of the streaming services to exclusively feature content owned by a single company.

9. Funimation may monopolize dubbing for now, but Crunchyroll is the current leader in anime streaming. Also, there's the issue of the Vic Mignogna lawsuit. It's been a while since I've kept up with the Weeb Wars drama, but if Funimation is hit hard enough by the lawsuit (whether monetarily or through a bigger fish like Sony or Toei crippling them) then they might not be a main player at all.

10. For now, Crunchyroll will do well as long as it doesn't lean too hard on original content and eases back on all the censorship policies. Even if they do collapse from their own incompetence, I could see a new streaming service ending up as the main place to watch anime.

11. Agreed.

12. I'm honestly surprised YouTube Red hasn't been shut down already.

 

[Imperial Guardsman]

3. Possibly, but I could also see AT&T wanting to keep it going for their non-HBO stuff like Warner Brothers movies and the programming that belongs to the Turner channels (Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, TBS, TNT, etc.) assuming AT&T doesn't make their own streaming services for them or make them part of the HBO Go platform. Even if all the other major companies pull out, Disney will still keep Hulu for all their R and TV-MA content they have from Fox and their other subsidiaries like Touchstone and we'll likely see smaller companies use it more often as Netflix continues to falter.

4. Agreed. Considering that Disney+ will have the Disney Animated Canon, the entire Star Wars saga, and the entire run of The Simpsons at launch, to say nothing of what will be added as it goes along, there's a very good chance that Disney+ will be the

5. If CBS-Viacom can make a streaming service work, they've got an expansive library as well, especially if they include the Paramount film library and the Viacom networks such as Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Patamount Network, and so on. Hell, if I were Viacom, I'd even go the extra mile and have a "retro" categories of programs for defunct channels like Spike TV or channels that suffered from severe channel drift like TV Land.

6. Peacock will probably use the Universal movie library as their main draw, although we'll also likely see people get it for stuff like Seinfeld, The Office, and Friends. If they're very smart, they might also tap into the older stuff from the USA Network like Xena: Warrior Princess (technically that was first-run syndication, but USA Network aired it a lot and it is owned by NBC Universal)

7. HBO Go will survive simply due to the sheer amount of acclaimed TV shows that aired on HBO such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Game of Thrones, or Sex and The City, to so say nothing of their many cult classics like Oz or Deadwood. You also could keep the movies going since AT&T owns both HBO and Warner Brothers, and they could supplement those titles with licensed smaller titles.

If AT&T is smart, they will expand their streaming services to include the channels that were founded by Turner, such as Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, TBS, TNT, and maybe have TCM continue as a category for all those vintage films in the Warner Brothers library.

8. Agreed. Since WWE owns so much wrestling footage, they'll keep going. After all, WWE Network was the first of the streaming services to exclusively feature content owned by a single company.

9. Funimation may monopolize dubbing for now, but Crunchyroll is the current leader in anime streaming. Also, there's the issue of the Vic Mignogna lawsuit. It's been a while since I've kept up with the Weeb Wars drama, but if Funimation is hit hard enough by the lawsuit (whether monetarily or through a bigger fish like Sony or Toei crippling them) then they might not be a main player at all.

10. For now, Crunchyroll will do well as long as it doesn't lean too hard on original content and eases back on all the censorship policies. Even if they do collapse from their own incompetence, I could see a new streaming service ending up as the main place to watch anime.

12. I'm honestly surprised YouTube Red hasn't been shut down already.

3. I am mixed on the survival of Hulu if Disney gets full control over it.

4. Here is the full list of Disney+ launch titles they dropped a few days ago. It will survive just because of the sheer size of their backlog and number of fans.

5. They have CBS All Access (I forgot the name of it in my first post) it is mainly focused on CBS shows but with them merging with Viacom I can see it turning into a larger service. Though if they do that I think they would be more likely to relaunch it under a different name to not tie it purely to CBS.

6. I completely agree, they have a large back catalog (both NBC and Universal) that would be interesting for alot of people and can draw people in.

7. I completely forgot that AT&T own Warner. They will probably expand as a way to compete.

8. Not just wrestling but also have WWE Studios which have produced some movies (most not great) but that can add to that library which wrestling fans would enjoy.

9. I have kept my distance from Weeb Wars for various reasons, but the lawsuit if successful will cause them to lose some market share considering they operation such little profit. Sony might try and shut them down or merge them into their North American anime dubbing and distribution house Aniplex of America.

10. The only original that they are working on is High Guardian Spice which I think the negative attention it got for that shit "trailer" may have soured them on trying to make more. Though I am pretty sure they are funding the KonoSuba English dub. It would take a big fuck up for them to lose dominance. However their current fairly low price and as you mentioned in an earlier post the niche nature of anime in the west works in their favor.

12. So am I, I really thought it wouldn't last this long. I will be surprised if it lasts to 2025.

 

[CheezzyMach]

Since this is a streaming thread I'm going to air my biggest grievance with our likely digital future.

People who think buying digital gives them ownership rights like buying a physical copy does despite this being repeatedly demonstrated not to be the case for the last several years.

 

[Tour of Italy]

If you’d told me in 2015 about exclusive Star Wars original shows on a Disney platform, I’d have been first on the waiting list for that shit.

Now, I really, really don’t care and will likely never subscribe. Honestly I’m more inclined to just build a Blu-Ray library of stuff I actually care about. You can get a season’s worth of a show per month for your average streaming subscription. And that’s if you’re only subscribed to only one.

We need copyright reform already. The fact that ubiquitous shows and movies are still being bought and sold at ludicrous values is ridiculous. I get that the popular stuff is used to finance new stuff, but since when has the “new stuff” been anything but rehashes of dependable old brands anyway.

 

[CheezzyMach]

If you’d told me in 2015 about exclusive Star Wars original shows on a Disney platform, I’d have been first on the waiting list for that shit.

Now, I really, really don’t care and will likely never subscribe. Honestly I’m more inclined to just build a Blu-Ray library of stuff I actually care about. You can get a season’s worth of a show per month for your average streaming subscription. And that’s if you’re only subscribed to only one.

We need copyright reform already. The fact that ubiquitous shows and movies are still being bought and sold at ludicrous values is ridiculous. I get that the popular stuff is used to finance new stuff, but since when has the “new stuff” been anything but rehashes of dependable old brands anyway.

I want it just for the old Marvel and Disney stuff.

 

[Syaoran Li]

I want it just for the old Marvel and Disney stuff.

This.

I'm only getting Disney+ for The Simpsons and the Marvel cartoons from the 90's. The Simpsons has never had any of the classic episodes in a streaming format or on Blu-Ray, since Al Jean primarily supports digital media and ceased any newer DVD season boxed sets. Also, a lot of the older DVD boxed sets for The Simpsons are out of print and are now fairly pricey on Amazon.

Having the original Star Wars trilogy and some of my favorite Disney films like Toy Story and Emperor's New Groove on the exact same streaming service are just bonuses for me.

Of course, I'm curious if we'll ever get the unmodified original cuts of the OG Star Wars trilogy. George Lucas doesn't have the rights to the franchise anymore so he can't suppress it and now that Disney owns 20th Century Fox, there shouldn't be as much of a problem as before.

IIRC, part of the reason why Disney didn't just immediately release the original cuts of the Star Wars trilogy on Blu-Ray was due to the fact that 20th Century Fox had partial ownership of the original cuts.

There's a common theory that this was the real reason why George Lucas made the "Digitally Remastered" version of the trilogy back in the late 90's and went out of his way to defend his more dubious choices and suppress any attempt at a quality release of the original cuts on current formats like DVD, Blu-Ray, or streaming.

 

[CheezzyMach]

This.

I'm only getting Disney+ for The Simpsons and the Marvel cartoons from the 90's. The Simpsons has never had any of the classic episodes in a streaming format or on Blu-Ray, since Al Jean primarily supports digital media and ceased any newer DVD season boxed sets. Also, a lot of the older DVD boxed sets for The Simpsons are out of print and are now fairly pricey on Amazon.

Having the original Star Wars trilogy and some of my favorite Disney films like Toy Story and Emperor's New Groove on the exact same streaming service are just bonuses for me.

Of course, I'm curious if we'll ever get the unmodified original cuts of the OG Star Wars trilogy. George Lucas doesn't have the rights to the franchise anymore so he can't suppress it and now that Disney owns 20th Century Fox, there shouldn't be as much of a problem as before.

IIRC, part of the reason why Disney didn't just immediately release the original cuts of the Star Wars trilogy on Blu-Ray was due to the fact that 20th Century Fox had partial ownership of the original cuts.

There's a common theory that this was the real reason why George Lucas made the "Digitally Remastered" version of the trilogy back in the late 90's and went out of his way to defend his more dubious choices and suppress any attempt at a quality release of the original cuts on current formats like DVD, Blu-Ray, or streaming.

Well I am interested in the new She Hulk show too but am worried Marvel will fuck it up.

 

[Imperial Guardsman]

So I saw this image posted by IGN going over the monthly costs of all the mainstream streaming services. Their calculated cost of HBOMAX, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, CBS All Access, Prime Video, Starz, Disney+ and Apple TV+ ends up being $90.91. Which is way more than an average cable subscription. This doesn't include more specialized services like Crunchyroll, Funimation, HIDIVE, or WWE Network, it also doesn't include NBCUniversals streaming service (which i think will be about $10 a month). This is gonna require people switching from cable to streaming services to be more selective in what they pick, however this setup does allow for people to just pay for the services they don't care or won't use. I just think this is interesting considering they want to compete with cable.

 

[Notgoodwithusernames]

So I saw this image posted by IGN going over the monthly costs of all the mainstream streaming services. Their calculated cost of HBOMAX, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, CBS All Access, Prime Video, Starz, Disney+ and Apple TV+ ends up being $90.91. Which is way more than an average cable subscription. This doesn't include more specialized services like Crunchyroll, Funimation, HIDIVE, or WWE Network, it also doesn't include NBCUniversals streaming service (which i think will be about $10 a month). This is gonna require people switching from cable to streaming services to be more selective in what they pick, however this setup does allow for people to just pay for the services they don't care or won't use. I just think this is interesting considering they want to compete with cable.

View attachment 996029

I think having a lower price tag will work in Disney's favor at least in the short term. Of course there's always the corrwct option:

Internet Pirate - /v/ The Musical 2

Next year I'm gonna disable the comments, I swear. /r/pcmasterrace can still fuck off. For more /v/ The Musical, visit http://vthemusical.bandcamp.com/music ...

youtu.be

 

[A Pox]

So I saw this image posted by IGN going over the monthly costs of all the mainstream streaming services. Their calculated cost of HBOMAX, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, CBS All Access, Prime Video, Starz, Disney+ and Apple TV+ ends up being $90.91. Which is way more than an average cable subscription. This doesn't include more specialized services like Crunchyroll, Funimation, HIDIVE, or WWE Network, it also doesn't include NBCUniversals streaming service (which i think will be about $10 a month). This is gonna require people switching from cable to streaming services to be more selective in what they pick, however this setup does allow for people to just pay for the services they don't care or won't use. I just think this is interesting considering they want to compete with cable.

Streaming services aren't competing with cable. It's closer to home video. They're trying to directly engage with their audience and further monetize their archive.

The bubble with streaming is going to be with big ego corporations that think they can have a prestige streaming service when they don't have the archive to get large numbers or when they realize that spending billions on original content is pointless when subscribers can binge watch their latest cultural event in a week and cancel before they're charged again.

That will be the Apple, CBS/Viacom, NBCs of the world. They'll fold quick or bundle up with other services to save face.

Niche services like The Criterion Channel or Crunchyroll or Stardom World will be fine. Superfans stay subscribed to get the niche content they can't get anywhere else and the parent companies aren't expecting 50 million subscribers like AT&T with HBOMax.

 

[Imperial Guardsman]

Streaming services aren't competing with cable. It's closer to home video. They're trying to directly engage with their audience and further monetize their archive.

The bubble with streaming is going to be with big ego corporations that think they can have a prestige streaming service when they don't have the archive to get large numbers or when they realize that spending billions on original content is pointless when subscribers can binge watch their latest cultural event in a week and cancel before they're charged again.

That will be the Apple, CBS/Viacom, NBCs of the world. They'll fold quick or bundle up with other services to save face.

Niche services like The Criterion Channel or Crunchyroll or Stardom World will be fine. Superfans stay subscribed to get the niche content they can't get anywhere else and the parent companies aren't expecting 50 million subscribers like AT&T with HBOMax.

The goal of some of these streaming services is to completely replace cable, which is a battle they have already won for younger audiences (20s-30s). Now they need they need to target older people (40s-50s) to get them to drop their cable subscriptions. Netflix and Hulus main rival for the last several years has been cable. Streaming is the replacement for cable and they have been competing with cable to grow their audience.

I do agree some companies are getting involved as a status symbol, however I think Disney in particular is more interested in getting a piece of the pie as an additional way to make more money. The ones who do want it only as a status symbol will eventually shut their services down and stream their content to other services. whether it be Netflix or somewhere else.

I agree with Niche services, as long as they keep providing that niche content the fans of that content will continue to pay (as long as the price stays reasonable).

 

[Stoneheart]

I do agree some companies are getting involved as a status symbol, however I think Disney in particular is more interested in getting a piece of the pie as an additional way to make more money. The ones who do want it only as a status symbol will eventually shut their services down and stream their content to other services. whether it be Netflix or somewhere else.

Disney will have the most trouble. they cant put their stuff in the vault and they need to start producing good content.

 

[Imperial Guardsman]

Disney will have the most trouble. they cant put their stuff in the vault and they need to start producing good content.

I agree they need to make good content, but it needs to be more than that it also has to be things that aren't remakes of their existing films. Make something good that isn't just "one of our old animated movies but in live action and the princess is now a stronk wohman."

I think Disney will be fine anyway because their fanbase will literally pay for almost anything.

 

[Manwithn0n0men]

I'm just pirating my shit from now on

I'm considering going to the high seas m'self