CNN streaming has shut down after just one month, and Netflix is losing members. People will always want serial entertainment of some kind, so, just as TV and cable transformed to streaming (sortof), so too will streaming transform to something else (sortof). But, if they're not going to CNN and Netflix, are they going to CBS and Disney?
distribution Streaming services are losing members.
- Thread starter Aspiring Mogul
- Start date
I think the issue isn't that streaming services AS A WHOLE are losing members but that there are so damn many of them that the pie is getting cut into more/smaller pieces. Also, there's a limit to how many different services people are willing to pay for, as opposed to tolerating ads.
Services like Roku & Hulu, which had previously "just" facilitated streaming, are now creating original content (and some of it is quite good).
Hulu offers both a free version w/ads & a paid version without ads, and I think Netflix is smart to move toward that option. Their success has inspired lots of competition. That doesn't mean they'll fail but that they need to continue to evolve. They're also highly international, but now have pulled back from Russia (for well known reasons).
As far as CNN+ is concerned, I never saw the rationale for its existence.
Services like Roku & Hulu, which had previously "just" facilitated streaming, are now creating original content (and some of it is quite good).
Hulu offers both a free version w/ads & a paid version without ads, and I think Netflix is smart to move toward that option. Their success has inspired lots of competition. That doesn't mean they'll fail but that they need to continue to evolve. They're also highly international, but now have pulled back from Russia (for well known reasons).
As far as CNN+ is concerned, I never saw the rationale for its existence.
Agreed, Mara, and, to a conservative, that only shows how free markets can put big business in its place, so there would be no reason to fear them. And, since no one knows anything in the film business, a low-cost Youtube production can beat an established series.
The CNN+ situation had everything to do with the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, because their longer-term strategy is to consolidate streaming to a single platform. It‘s unfortunate that CNN+ actually launched - they should have known with the merger on the horizon - when it shouldn’t have happened at all.
But yes, as Mara points out, pie slices are getting smaller. Netflix wants to blame password sharing which, while it may have some impact on subscriptions, isn’t the only issue. I think there’s a bubble that’s going to burst fairly soon. Everybody wants to have their own streaming platform now and the market is super-saturated. It‘s also hy-STER-ical that people are pining for a centralized access to streaming service. One access that includes all the platforms.
Cable. They want cable.
Linear television is on the decline, though not quite as quickly as popular opinion seems to think. What is happening there is that ad sales are down. Watch linear TV and pay attention in the breaks. The number of ad spaces that are populated by network promos is staggering.
On the flipside, streaming services have used paid subscription models to avoid ads (mostly) and, I believe, they’re now finding out that this isn’t sustainable. But the ad-based free and discounted subscriptions don’t enjoy the same overhead as linear: paid ad spots just don’t command the prices that linear does… or, at least, did.
But yes, as Mara points out, pie slices are getting smaller. Netflix wants to blame password sharing which, while it may have some impact on subscriptions, isn’t the only issue. I think there’s a bubble that’s going to burst fairly soon. Everybody wants to have their own streaming platform now and the market is super-saturated. It‘s also hy-STER-ical that people are pining for a centralized access to streaming service. One access that includes all the platforms.
Cable. They want cable.
Linear television is on the decline, though not quite as quickly as popular opinion seems to think. What is happening there is that ad sales are down. Watch linear TV and pay attention in the breaks. The number of ad spaces that are populated by network promos is staggering.
On the flipside, streaming services have used paid subscription models to avoid ads (mostly) and, I believe, they’re now finding out that this isn’t sustainable. But the ad-based free and discounted subscriptions don’t enjoy the same overhead as linear: paid ad spots just don’t command the prices that linear does… or, at least, did.
Netflix lost 700,000 subscribers from russia bc of a war - i wouldn't draw too many conclusions about streaming based on that.....
But yes netflixs glory day was when it had licenses for all the other content, and then those services created their own streaming platforms and pulled all those movies and shows off netflix. and now netflix sucks bc the only good original netflix shows were CANCELED by netflix after like 2 -3seasons.
But yes netflixs glory day was when it had licenses for all the other content, and then those services created their own streaming platforms and pulled all those movies and shows off netflix. and now netflix sucks bc the only good original netflix shows were CANCELED by netflix after like 2 -3seasons.
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Nope. The whole channel was canned not just the model. It only had 150k subs. Discovery also owns the Motortrend channel and they did not roll that into Discovery+ since it has good membership. In other words, CNN+ was canned due to low subs, period, or it would have been rolled into a package later, but it's totally gone.
Low subscribers were definitely a concern, but it was only three weeks in. This had more to do with Discovery’s acquisition. Yeah, the whole thing was hindered by the fact that CNN couldn‘t put many of its daytime programming on streaming thanks to non-compete agreements with cable carriers. $5.99/mo for not being able to get much of the programming from linear was a bad idea to begin with, but Discovery has a very different idea when it comes to streaming. Prepare to see some other platforms get absorbed into Discovery+ (or whatever they decide to rebrand the platform now that WB is part of the equation). I won’t be at all surprised if HBOMax, as its own streaming platform, ceases to be sometime soon.
Some (not much) of the programming that was unique to CNN+ is, allegedly, going to be folded into the linear network or other places, but it does put a whole bunch of people out of work.
I have HBO Max & love it (currently my favorite streamer), but I have no clue why it's not simply streaming HBO rather than a separate entity.
Movies have hit some delays for sure. Certain types of TV, maybe. But what I experienced at the beginning of the pandemic was an initial shut-down that lasted about 5 months, and then a sudden onslaught of production to catch up for the gap. I’ve been pretty much booked ever since. Food competition shows, home improvement shows, historical recreation shows… we’ve been cranking out pretty steadily since August of 2020, when the production industry figured out how to start back up with COVID protocols.
On a related note, I’ll be interested to see what happens after the end of this month. April 30 is when the existing agreement between the unions and the production companies (which affects non-union shows as well) expires. This is the agreement that establishes COVID protocols. It’s currently being re-evaluated, so I’m wondering what happens next. The show I’m currently on has clamped down even more since last season, and we’re now testing daily (rapid antigen every day, PCR once a week with RA test on that day as well). Last year, we tested three times a week: two RA and one PCR. They’ve gotten more strict with zones, and have reduced crew in some departments. Where states and municipalities have largely started loosening restrictions, some productions are increasing protocols. So, we’ll see what May 1 brings.
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Dude, Chris Wallace left Fox for CNNPLUS and I was like WTF he better have something in his contract that gives him a prime time slot on the network if the + fails. They used him to attract viewers. They did not come. What now? Limbo. I saw that coming. Hope he does have a clause!
Yeah, and they took Audie Cornish from NPR. (Personally, I think Wallace wanted an out from Fox anyway.)
The whole thing was an ill-fated train wreck on multiple levels, but an even bigger gamble launching right before a major acquisition by a company like Discovery.
Yes finally but ... unfortunately the only netflix original show I still watched, Glow, did not survive the pandemic.
Set to film a new season, canceled forever after covid
Because they felt they needed to compete with Fox Nation.
To spread out the financial and legal liabilities, and to satisfy the on-demand market.
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My guess is that at some point the streaming services will become hosting platforms. They'll charge $XXXX per terra-byte to the content producers, and the subscribers will pay a small annual fee for access. The content producers will decide upon the advertising for themselves. The hosters will also offer "we'll take care of the advertising for you" programs for a cut of the advertising fees.
Instead of having to subscribe to an entire platform - NetFlix, Hulu, Paramount, Disney+, Discovery+, et. al. - you subscribe to the hosting platform, then pick and choose the content you want to watch with commercials, or, for an additional fee, without commercials.
As an example...
As the end user you would pay your minimal annual fee to have access to HostWithTheMost. As a content producer I would pay my per terra-byte fee and post "Uncle Bob Talks Audio." I could spend my time looking for advertisers and/or sponsors and keep all that revenue, or I could have HostWithTheMost handle that for me (and they get their cut). The third option is the viewers could pay to view "Uncle Bob Talks Audio" commercial free.
Yes, there are lots of issues that need to be addressed, but IMHO this is a possible scenario.
I see the rationale for cnn+
So much news is BS clickbait headlines and it puts sensationalism over substance.
I can see the rationale of people wanting a news source that didn't have to depend on a view count and could go back to quality journalism instead of clickbait.
However... There is just too much news everywhere all the time and all it does is make people feel bad. its all stupid anyway.
If I were a super genius and spent the next 30 years learning every detail about news and politics guess how many peoples minds i would change about issues ? Effectively ZERO. cause HUMANS DON'T CARE ABOUT INFORMATION. As a species, humans simple do not care for information, no amount of information is gonna change anyones political views. people believe what they want to believe and thats it.
So it is no surprise at all that cnn+ would fail.
So much news is BS clickbait headlines and it puts sensationalism over substance.
I can see the rationale of people wanting a news source that didn't have to depend on a view count and could go back to quality journalism instead of clickbait.
However... There is just too much news everywhere all the time and all it does is make people feel bad. its all stupid anyway.
If I were a super genius and spent the next 30 years learning every detail about news and politics guess how many peoples minds i would change about issues ? Effectively ZERO. cause HUMANS DON'T CARE ABOUT INFORMATION. As a species, humans simple do not care for information, no amount of information is gonna change anyones political views. people believe what they want to believe and thats it.
So it is no surprise at all that cnn+ would fail.
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To try and answer the original question, I don't think streaming or cable networks are going anywhere. I think there are changes going on in the market, and that's the most normal thing in the world. There will always be entertainment customers, and entertainment providers. I'm sure that when the milk trucks stopped rolling, newspapers probably published articles like "Is this the end of Milk?" Products will be created, and delivered one way or another, forever. I'm pretty sure streaming is near the end of the tech continuum though. They are teleporting tv shows to your phone from space, how much more technology is actually needed for me to watch a rerun of Gilligan's Island. I do think that 3d will come back once the tech for passive stereoscopic viewing is cheap. (no glasses, standardized display and delivery, etc) probably 20 years or so, hard to say.
The irony is "cord-cutting" cable was supposed to make life simpler. No more fluff packages with channels we didn't watch. Now we not only have streaming channels, but fluff streaming packages that even overlap others, and streaming exclusive content that one must have to view one show... and it's exponentially more complicated.