The video streaming industry is doomed

The video streaming industry is doomed (including Netflix, Amazon prime, Disney Plus, HBO GO, HULU and etc..)

Since 2016 Netflix has added one new innovation a year and its been a long time since they haven’t added anything new. So what is the issue?

The industry of video streaming is fundamentally broken. Video streaming is not a real competitive market. The main factor that drives this market is exclusivity. As an example, we can point out the fact that how LOST tv show is no longer on Netflix and now you can only watch it on HULU. The whole video streaming market is a monopoly or oligopoly which is a market with limited competition. This is why the innovation in this market is so slow comparing to phone or other industries.

Here is another point, no one switches when they buy a new streaming service. As much as people like to argue they are competitors, they are not.

Streaming services are simply abusing the IP (intellectual property laws) because these exclusive rights mean each streaming service gets to be the only streaming option for consumers for any given show. Rather than competing fairly by trying to provide a better product than Netflix, they monopolize individual shows in attempt to get consumers to buy their service too, not instead of.

In the next few years this whole idea of video streaming is going to become a lot like cable tv since every media company is going to provide their own streaming service. So the only convenient option that would be left for people would be to pirate shows or stream them on illegal websites. I don’t support pirating but thats the direction we are heading right now based on Sandvine 2018 Internet Phenomena Report, piracy is on the rise.

Solution

Make every show available on every platform so then the customers choose which one to use. The only solution for this market is to become a real competitor market and introduce actual new features into the industry.