How blockchain could kill both cable and Netflix

Blockchain technology is a distributed ledger technology. This means that there are nodes of P2P computers around the world that have a copy of the blockchain, and some of them are miners that solve complex algorithm and verify transactions. Additionally, the blockchain has a ledger that has all the transactions. This new technology can be used for everything. There are many applications in different sectors such as finance, health, education, logistic, and so on. So, can we expect decentralized entertainment applications built on blockchain?

In the case of video production studios, there are websites like Youtube and Twitch that disrupt the market and have created a mass market for videos, so the market of the cable networks and studios is decreasing.

Studios and networks (including Netflix and Amazon) are developing content, so it needs an orderly approach to distribution. For this, it can be used blockchain to disrupt the entertainment industry. So, blockchain technology brings a decentralized model for content distribution because this technology has nodes of P2P computer. So, it means that blockchain technology doesn’t have a central server or authority.

Netflix and Cable have a centralized approach because the content is stored on a server and then it is distributed over the air, via coaxial, or more recently, over the internet directly using CDNs (Content Delivery Networks such as Akamai and Amazon CloudFront). Furthermore, the decisions about what content is offered, when it’s offered, the price, and the distribution route are still very proprietary and hierarchical. 

In the case of a decentralized approach, there is not a central authority that says what content is to be distributed, or able to block specific content. Using decentralized apps (or Dapps) for entertainment, many computers around the world would act as broadcasters in a mesh network. These nodes would broadcaster the signal to computers that are geographically nearby.

Some new crypto projects are using blockchain technology or distributed ledger technology for decentralized video streaming. So, blockchain technology is used for ingesting and compressing content to make it available. For example, LivePeer was built on the Steem blockchain, and Viuly was built on Ethereum. Ethereum’s blockchain technology was used for application-level tokens for streamers and influencers, such as Stream Token and YouNow/PROPS. Furthermore, Spectiv VR is focused on the advertising model. In the case of LBRY and Theta Labs, they are building new blockchains/protocols to support third-party decentralized applications (DApps) for entertainment, esports, and more.

So, these blockchain projects disrupt the distribution of video because it’s no longer required centralized architectures. Indeed, blockchain could also disrupt companies such as Netflix.  

So, there are a few ways that blockchain technology could disrupt entertainment network:

·     Free Up Content Creators: content creators don't need gatekeepers to approve their content because they could create content and make it available over a decentralized platform instantly.

·     New Channels: New “channels” could emerge. So, there will be channels for esports, live events, fantasy, sci-fi, news, and so on. And, content creators could join these channels.

·     Advertising and Free Content. Free content could even disrupt the traditional TV advertising model by using cryptocurrency. The blockchain video projects would have cryptocurrency that advertisers can use to buy exposure. So, there is no middleman on this decentralized network because they cryptocurrency goes directly to the content creator.

·     Paid Content. Viewers could use cryptocurrency to buy things such as subscribe to particular channels. So, this could replace cable on-demand, and their clients can have unlimited choice of what can be seen “on-demand.” For example, HBO released its own app, so their clients don’t need a cable subscription to watch them. 

Technology always impacts the entertainment industry. For example, the internet created new ways to consume content, and the creation and distribution of high-quality shows have been dominated by some companies. So, the internet hasn't brought the democratization of content. 

Blockchain technology could disrupt the entertainment industry by breaking that “monopoly" by a group of big companies and replacing the centralized approach with a blockchain-P2P network.

In fact, many of these projects will be going live towards the end of this year, and it is expected a rapid growth of these projects in 2019 and 2020. It may take a number of years that this new decentralized network becomes the dominant trend like Netflix displaced video rental stores. It seems that the 2020s would be the decade of blockchain in entertainment.

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