Since taking over the authorship of this column from Jake Buckler, I’ve noticed that its tone has changed… a lot. Buckler was incredibly optimistic about streaming, often finding something to love and talking about it. I’m a lot less bullish about streaming the last several years, because it’s gone from being something of a miracle to… well… a big disappointment.
Streaming has become the default way that people get their live video. When you take a look at all the normal subscription streaming services, and then add in the amount of time people spend on video sharing sites like YouTube and TikTok, it’s not even close. Streaming dominates. So why is it that I’ve been so negative about it?
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
My problem with streaming is that the companies doing it are repeating the mistakes of the past. Why did you start streaming? I’m willing to bet it was one of two reasons (or both.) Either it was cheaper than traditional cable TV, or it let you watch the programs you wanted easily, on your schedule.
In the last few years, streaming services have duplicated all the mistakes made by old-school broadcasters and cable TV operators. They’ve been raising prices by double-digits year after year. The customer service is essentially nonexistent now. And, to add insult to injury, most major streaming services have cut the amount of content on their sites by massive amounts.
Things like this are why people left their comfortable cable-TV cocoons and went to streaming in the first place. Now it’s the reason that people are ditching streaming services, sharing passwords, and relying more and more on amateur-generated content. You know what that means? It means that it’s very possible that the world of streaming will suffer the same fate that the world of cable TV suffered a few years ago.
Hope for the future?
2023 was absolutely savage when it came to streaming services. I have to believe that 2024 will be better. If streaming costs rise another 25-40% in 2024 while the amount of content on paid sites goes down by double digits again, of course people are going to cancel. I want to believe that the hard work of getting these apps to be profitable was done in 2023 and things will look a little sunnier in 2024.
Of course, streaming apps really haven’t seen the impact of the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 yet. Streaming projects often take a long time to finish, which means that streamers were able to continue to deliver content even during the strikes. The content they delivered was started as many as three years earlier and was finished by people who weren’t striking.
Now, though, the world of streaming needs to play catch up. Months spent without anyone writing or shooting anything are going to mean less content in 2024 unless people step things up. I think they will, though, because the actors and writers are anxious to make up for lost income.
What do you think?
One thing I’d really like to do in 2024 is get more guest authors. I occasionally spar with other online folks. They love to try to poke holes in what I do, but they don’t want to write articles on their own. I know that hundreds of people read these Streaming Saturday articles. That’s not New York Times level circulation but it’s probably better than your local newspaper is doing lately. So, if you want to be “micro-famous,” why not hone your skills by writing an article for this column? No it doesn’t pay money to do it, but you get your name out there. It’s great for aspiring bloggers.
And besides, if someone else wrote these articles, maybe they wouldn’t be quite so pessimistic. When that happens, everyone wins.
