Thanks to the internet, people can access a variety of content from different countries. Nowadays, every internet user has access to several subscription deals from the comfort of their couch. Most users are familiar with streaming services. Netizens cannot help but give in to the need to keep up. We want to stay updated with everything new around us, including media content.
So, here we will explore the journey of streaming services in Canada in detail and their overall effect on television culture and the possible future.
The Fall Of Television
Before streaming services came into the picture, television dominated the world of entertainment. People could only access things their cable provider could give them. Streaming services did not immediately replace television after the invention of the internet. They slowly crept into our lives until we realized that the age of television was over.
Televisions found their way into Canadian households in the 1940s and internationally in the 70s. According to media theorist Neil Postman, the average family positioned its couch to face the television by the 80s. Even today, people can find such a sitting arrangement in most households. It means that streaming services may have replaced the chunky black box, but we still have its hangover.
Cable providers made attempts to diversify television content through subscription TV. However, nothing could beat the versatility of a streaming service that brought access to content from all over the world. In fact, Netflix is anticipated to acquire 86.3% of the market share alone in Canada.
We have to agree that one streaming service does not have all the content. However, it is easy to solve that issue. Most people follow StreamingRant and similar websites to understand how to access content from different streaming services and related problems.
Television rapidly lost its appeal after streaming services entered our lives. At present, people feel apprehensive about buying a television if they can not cast their favorite shows on it via the internet. With their excellent, diverse content libraries, streaming services leave no time for viewers to feel bored. Some viewers fall prey to the binge-watching curse. Streaming services are the future of the Canadian as well as the world’s entertainment industry.
Broadcasting something on television requires creators to target an audience. For example, US-based networks in Canada like FOX and ABC relied on the American and Canadian audience to bring them views. Thanks to streaming services, creators can share their culture with international audiences instead of limiting their viewers.
The Ever-Increasing Popularity Of Streaming Services
Streaming services flourished in the mainstream from 2024. Services like Apple TV, Disney Plus took the audience by storm. Disney Plus would have to market its content to the older audience and youth to compete with Netflix. As a result, it was necessary to remake some Disney classics. An estimation is that Disney will have 60 to 90 million subscribers by the year 2024.
Because streaming services are abundant in the market, the author of Myth Building in Modern Media, A.J. Black, suggests that people subscribe and unsubscribe from streaming services from time to time. However, streaming services may try to hold their customer base by extending their subscription periods. According to A.J. Black, too much content diversified across platforms can cause problems.
A public survey revealed that Netflix held most customers at 86%, followed by Amazon Prime with 41% viewers and Hulu with 25%. It was a surprise to see that Disney Plus only 16% of the customers because Disney Plus is unavailable in several countries. Many people (48.94%) stated that they would purchase a Disney Plus subscription once they could access it in their country. However, most users (81.63%) found their current service and subscription satisfactory.
Several factors affect the decision of users to purchase a streaming service subscription. 78% of users wanted a collection of older shows, and 77% considered price a significant factor. 69% of users wanted original shows from the streaming service, but only 30% were bothered about the reputation of their streaming service. Other factors included interface design, usability, geo-blocking rules, and advertising. Most viewers (85.19%) want to access all episodes simultaneously, while 14.81% watch them according to their release date.
However, in terms of value return, Netflix is the best service that comes at a very affordable fee. To watch shows and web series, Canadian audiences prefer Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon prime in general.
The Side Effects And Future Of Streaming Services
Streaming services run on people’s need to catch up with the latest content. The theatre business is also under threat due to the rise of streaming services. The original business model of streaming services used old shows to attract users and introduce them to new content. However, the creation of original content by every streaming service harmed the TV and theatre culture. Why would anyone want to visit a movie theatre when they could stream that content from their home?
Another downside of streaming services is the differing availability and variety of content across platforms. Most people cannot find all the content they want on one streaming platform. As a result, people have to subscribe to different services to access a couple of shows. It is not a cost-effective model for customers, but the streaming platforms earn a lot of profit. As a result, people turn to pirated websites.
The plus side of streaming services is that they allow their users to be free. Streaming services have made international content more accessible and bloomed the business of the film industry. People get to choose the content they can watch at any given time.
In conclusion, streaming services are the future of media, but so is pirating of content. Illegal methods as such will harm the entertainment industry in the future.
