Streaming is sadder now
As Netflix and other companies face a loss of confidence in the growth potential of streaming, we we will all feel it.
It might not yet be noticeable when we're slumping on the couch and binging on Netflix, but the golden age of streaming entertainment is maybe over. We probably won't like what happens next.
Soon we might soon be paying more for less good options, feeling nostalgic for the old days of excess unlimited streaming and sitting around annoying ads.
A brief explanation for this change in mood: there has been a small loss of faith in the growth potential of streaming , and doubt has deep repercussions.
It started with Netflix and its startling revelation earlier this year that it lost subscribers for the first time in a decade. On Tuesday, Netflix said it was down again, but not as much as it had expected. Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings described the company's business results as "less bad".
When the streaming leader started to stumble , this sparked a massive question mark over streaming services in general.
Investors in entertainment companies and business leaders began to take questions seriously such as: Is streaming a worse activity than cable TV? What if we overestimated how many people would pay for streaming or misjudged how quickly they would change their habits?
Streaming is still the future of entertainment , but, as I've written before, the future doesn't necessarily happen in a straight line.
An investment analyst told my colleague Nicole Sperling that he thought the total potential market for Netflix could be 400 million customers worldwide, rather than the billion that Netflix had long said it was aiming for. If Netflix's potential is less than the company imagined, or if it takes longer to get there, that's not just a problem for Netflix. It also shows that streaming may never be as important as optimists believed.
We don't always need to worry when a wealthy company panics because she doesn't grow as big and fast as he wanted. But this is different: We've benefited from the reckless optimism of streaming, and the potential mismatch between entertainment company expectations and reality will affect us.
Au Over the past decade, companies including Netflix, Disney, HBO, Comcast, Apple and Amazon have been spending money, mostly without turning a profit, to attract customers for their streaming services. All of that money has most likely brought us cheaper and better quality video streaming services than we would have had if there wasn't so much hope that these entertainment services would have a huge and lucrative potential audience.
If we were having fun when streaming hope was high, it might be a shame now that the industry is questioning its own optimism.
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Netflix and other companies say they're still confident, but they don't act like it. Netflix said on Tuesday that after spending tons and then more money creating or buying entertainment for a long time, it will keep its programming budget roughly the same for the next few years.Caution with Money at Netflix is a new look, and Netflix is not alone. Journalists have been busy chronicling
As Netflix and other companies face a loss of confidence in the growth potential of streaming, we we will all feel it.
It might not yet be noticeable when we're slumping on the couch and binging on Netflix, but the golden age of streaming entertainment is maybe over. We probably won't like what happens next.
Soon we might soon be paying more for less good options, feeling nostalgic for the old days of excess unlimited streaming and sitting around annoying ads.
A brief explanation for this change in mood: there has been a small loss of faith in the growth potential of streaming , and doubt has deep repercussions.
It started with Netflix and its startling revelation earlier this year that it lost subscribers for the first time in a decade. On Tuesday, Netflix said it was down again, but not as much as it had expected. Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings described the company's business results as "less bad".
When the streaming leader started to stumble , this sparked a massive question mark over streaming services in general.
Investors in entertainment companies and business leaders began to take questions seriously such as: Is streaming a worse activity than cable TV? What if we overestimated how many people would pay for streaming or misjudged how quickly they would change their habits?
Streaming is still the future of entertainment , but, as I've written before, the future doesn't necessarily happen in a straight line.
An investment analyst told my colleague Nicole Sperling that he thought the total potential market for Netflix could be 400 million customers worldwide, rather than the billion that Netflix had long said it was aiming for. If Netflix's potential is less than the company imagined, or if it takes longer to get there, that's not just a problem for Netflix. It also shows that streaming may never be as important as optimists believed.
We don't always need to worry when a wealthy company panics because she doesn't grow as big and fast as he wanted. But this is different: We've benefited from the reckless optimism of streaming, and the potential mismatch between entertainment company expectations and reality will affect us.
Au Over the past decade, companies including Netflix, Disney, HBO, Comcast, Apple and Amazon have been spending money, mostly without turning a profit, to attract customers for their streaming services. All of that money has most likely brought us cheaper and better quality video streaming services than we would have had if there wasn't so much hope that these entertainment services would have a huge and lucrative potential audience.
If we were having fun when streaming hope was high, it might be a shame now that the industry is questioning its own optimism.
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Netflix and other companies say they're still confident, but they don't act like it. Netflix said on Tuesday that after spending tons and then more money creating or buying entertainment for a long time, it will keep its programming budget roughly the same for the next few years.Caution with Money at Netflix is a new look, and Netflix is not alone. Journalists have been busy chronicling
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