{"id":18550,"date":"2019-11-10T18:16:45","date_gmt":"2019-11-10T18:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=18550"},"modified":"2019-11-10T23:11:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-10T23:11:00","slug":"apple-disney-and-netflixs-streaming-battle-isnt-winner-take-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/apple-disney-and-netflixs-streaming-battle-isnt-winner-take-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple, Disney and Netflix’s streaming battle isn’t winner-take-all"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amanda Lotz<\/a>, Queensland University of Technology<\/a><\/em> and Ramon Lobato<\/a>, RMIT University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

With the recent launch of Apple TV Plus<\/a> and the imminent arrival of Disney Plus, the video landscape has never looked so competitive.<\/p>\n

These services join a crowded marketplace of subscription streaming services that includes Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video \u2013 with more to come<\/a> next year. For viewers, the proliferation of services means more choice in shows and services. For the companies, it means increased competition for talent and escalating budgets.<\/p>\n

Although many<\/a> publications<\/a> have<\/a> described<\/a> the situation as \u201cstreaming wars<\/a>,\u201d these companies have different goals for each of their video services.<\/p>\n

We have<\/a> been studying<\/a> the recent boom<\/a> in subscription video streaming to understand the implications for audiences and industry. Contrary to all this reporting, we find little evidence of a \u201cstreaming war.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, many of these services are playing different games.<\/p>\n

Diverse strategies<\/h2>\n

The major streaming services \u2013 both old and new \u2013 all have different catalogs, pricing and strategies. While all services seek viewers\u2019 time and attention, in other respects they are different beasts.<\/p>\n

Take Disney Plus<\/a>. Disney\u2019s strong suit is kids, family and its popular Marvel and \u201cStar Wars\u201d content. It has also invested in a few original series such as \u201cThe Mandalorian,\u201d a \u201cStar Wars\u201d spin-off.<\/p>\n

But unlike Netflix, Disney Plus doesn\u2019t offer a full-service entertainment package. With its lowball pricing of US$7 per month compared with $13 for Netflix\u2019s most popular plan, Disney Plus is pitched as a service to have alongside Netflix, rather than a direct replacement.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Apple TV Plus<\/a> \u2013 which debuted on Nov. 1 for $4.99 a month \u2013 has a tiny catalog of high-profile shows and stars, such as Oprah and Jennifer Aniston. Compared with Netflix\u2019s library of 5,000 titles<\/a>, Apple TV Plus is a minnow. Its purpose is to add value and glamour to Apple device purchases not to replace another service.<\/p>\n

In other words, neither Disney Plus nor Apple TV Plus is likely to be a \u201cNetflix killer<\/a>\u201d anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The growing number of streaming services can co-exist.<\/span>
\nManuel Esteban\/Shutterstock.com<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Netflix is global<\/h2>\n

Another key difference between Netflix and services such as Disney Plus, Hulu and Apple TV Plus is the amount of global content in the former\u2019s library.<\/p>\n

Today, six out of every seven<\/a> new Netflix subscribers live outside the U.S. The global market<\/a> is essential for Netflix\u2019s future growth.<\/p>\n

To support this endeavor, it is spending considerably on producing shows outside the U.S., and this original content is available to subscribers worldwide. Of course not every viewer is interested in series produced elsewhere, but Netflix is making the bet that sci-fi fans will turn up for a good adventure whether it is produced in the U.S. or Brazil.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Disney and Apple are following a more traditional U.S. export model of media globalization.<\/p>\n

Room for other players?<\/h2>\n

Many questions remain about the future of Hulu<\/a> now that its owners \u2013 Disney and Comcast \u2013 are launching other services.<\/p>\n

Hulu provides a distinct service as a source of current series produced for Disney and NBC. Viewers that are cutting cable and satellite service \u2013 a trend that has increased<\/a> in the last year \u2013 may find Hulu a good replacement.<\/p>\n

And more change is coming. Comcast announced a service called Peacock for next year. Peacock will draw heavily from the library of shows Comcast owns as the corporate parent of NBC and Universal. It will be free to Comcast subscribers and possibly to everyone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, AT&T will launch HBO Max<\/a> \u2013 the new direct-to-consumer portal for HBO content, some original series and titles from the Warner Bros. library such as \u201cFriends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Disney can use data collected from its streaming service for other purposes, such as driving people to the theaters to watch \u2018Frozen 2.\u2019<\/span>
\nPhoto by Arthur Mola\/Invision\/AP<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What winning means<\/h2>\n

In other words, the question of who will \u201cwin\u201d the streaming war is more complicated than it appears.<\/p>\n

Rather than one service to rule them all, there may be many winners because most are playing different games. Netflix is the only \u201cpure\u201d subscription video-on-demand service \u2013 meaning its only business is streaming video. It wins when viewers subscribe or keep subscribing. Apple and Amazon are playing another game entirely. Apple wins if you buy a new iPhone, and Amazon wins if you start buying more from its online retail service. Similarly, Comcast and AT&T are likely angling to increase internet subscribers.<\/p>\n

Disney also wants viewers to pay to subscribe, but it has other ambitions too. Launching its own streaming service allows Disney to collect valuable data about who is watching and what they like. This kind of data is useful for driving viewers to theaters as Elsa and Anna return in \u201cFrozen 2\u201d and enticing families to buy lots of stuffed toys and maybe even visit its theme parks.<\/p>\n

In other words, this is not a single war so much as a collection of different media and technology businesses that are using video streaming to accomplish different goals.<\/p>\n

[ Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.<\/em> Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a>. ]\"The<\/p>\n

Amanda Lotz<\/a>, Professor of Media Studies, Queensland University of Technology<\/a><\/em> and Ramon Lobato<\/a>, Senior research fellow, RMIT University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amanda Lotz, Queensland University of Technology and Ramon Lobato, RMIT University With the recent launch of Apple TV Plus and the imminent arrival of Disney Plus, the video landscape has never looked so competitive. These services join a crowded marketplace of subscription streaming services that includes Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video \u2013 with more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":18546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[7223,307,4087,7222,4694,653,1793,6911,652,7221,7224,533,1930],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18550"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18550"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18553,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18550\/revisions\/18553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}