Everyone and their dog is creating a streaming service. We already have Crunchyroll, Netflix, CBS All Access, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Go, Disney+, and Funimation to name a few. In the future we’re getting more like HBO Max, NBC’s Peacock, and Quibi. This is not what people dream of when they think about “cutting the cord.” The idea was that you could subscribe to 2-4 services and get about 80-90% of the content you’d get with your cable bill, but save a fair bit of money. Having lots of streaming services isn’t inherently a bad thing (in theory more services = more competition = better services & lower prices), but people are starting to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. I don’t think this model of everyone having a different service is going to last long as is.
I see two potential futures for streaming services. Either, we go back to having all content spread across roughly 4-5 services like when we had just Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix, or companies have to come together. A perfect example of the latter is VRV. I’ve been using VRV for several months and it’s brilliant. You can pay $10 per month and access “channels” which are different services like Crunchyroll, HIDIVE, Rooster Teeth First, Nick Splat, and Boomerang to name a few. I could go and subscribe to Rooster Teeth for $6 per month and Crunchyroll for $8 per month and NickSplat for $6 (a total of $20 per month) or I can spend half that and get all three plus more. Essentially, it’s the idea of cable bundles but applied to streaming services. It’s brilliant too.
Each service could receive compensation from each person subscribed to the bundle they’re a part of, but they could also still be independent. This creates simplified bundles at reduced prices for the price-conscious consumer and an à la carte situation for people who want specific ones.
Of course, this would require services to play nice with each other to create the bundles in the first place and they’d have to not charge exorbitant fees, but I do think this is probably the more likely of the two futures I foresee with streaming services because everyone wants a piece of the pie. Chances are the bundles will be horribly designed though so that each bundle offers 3 services you need so you have to get all the bundles anyway.
What do you think is the future of streaming services with so many being out there?