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+--- Thread: Streaming services decline for first time! (/showthread.php?tid=1095)
Streaming services decline for first time! - CantGetIn - 18-04-2022
Quote:The UK streaming boom is officially over after the number of homes with services such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ fell in the first quarter, as the [size=1]cost of living crisis[/size] forced hundreds of thousands of streaming fans to slim down their subscriptions to just a few favourites.
The number of UK homes that have at least one paid-for subscription streaming service fell by 215,000 in the first quarter – ending a decade of almost uninterrupted growth in the popularity of streaming services – as households cut budgets to cope as inflation runs at a three decade high.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/apr/18/streaming-subscriptions-in-decline-as-uk-households-cut-budgets
Having seen this article today, I was not surprised as I have in the past month actually axed all the streaming services. Disney plus, Netflix and Apple TV. I have Amazon left from a family member.
I didn't see the value in them anymore, perhaps once every so often they will have a good thing to watch. But I think I will reserve streaming for Christmas time etc and binge everything then instead of paying constantly and waiting.
Could this be a shift towards the end of Netflix and more power for the BBC I player and the old style film companies which are now starting to stream?
Have you ended any subscriptions recently?
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - London Lite - 18-04-2022
I've got rid of Netflix, Disney+, Britbox and YouTube Premium recently to concentrate on NOW, Discovery+ and All4+.
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - BBC TV Centre - 18-04-2022
Pardon the pun but I've never really subscribed to the idea of them.
I've had lots of trials of Amazon Prime (they seem to be very keen to give it away with each time I order something off there), and as for the others, there's not really something I have ever found interest in.
Mind you, I grew up in a Sky-less household and on channels 1-5 so I suppose I have never really had the mindset of pay-TV.
If you're big on all your series, it must cost an arm and a leg to subscribe to everything, Disney+, Netflix, Amazon etc if you took all of them would be looking at least £30/month and then some.
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - Neil Jones - 18-04-2022
(18-04-2022, 02:05 PM)CantGetIn Wrote: Could this be a shift towards the end of Netflix and more power for the BBC I player and the old style film companies which are now starting to stream?
Netflix is a global company, one country's arm/offerings isn't the be all and end all of a company, though I dare say we're not alone in the so-called "cost of living crisis".
Streamers operate on contractless subscriptions, so there isn't really much they can do to reduce the churn rate short of reducing prices/member discounts (Now TV does this), but of course they are businesses at the end of the day so their overall aim is to make as much money as possible.
But at the end of they day; they are disposable services. You don't need them to survive.
A bigger story would probably be if Sky (TV)'s churn rate shot through the roof. The only real reason it doesn't at this time is because of their T&Cs that mean you can't up sticks and leave mid contract. Maybe if the "crisis" continues over the next 18 months we could see many people dumping that as all those contracts expire. Something like £85 a month for everything Sky offers isn't particularly money well spent when the cheaper end of the market and the streamers are being dumped already (and they're relatively cheap compared to Sky TV).
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - XIII - 18-04-2022
I do wonder if those who took out subscriptions during lockdowns are now cancelling the one they don't use because they have other things they can spend their money on.
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - Blubatt - 18-04-2022
I think its simple as to why people are getting rid. I think people either get streaming services to supplement their television package (over paying for access to Sky Cinema, or other premium channels), or because it is their primary source of entertainment besides the free to air channels. When you get to the point where you pay for 5 or 6 streaming services, you're basically paying the same for a basic Sky package. You watch an ongoing series on one, then it ends, and you have nothing to watch, so you cut that one. You've seen all those movies? You cut that one too.
In my house, we have Netflix and Amazon Prime, along with a Plex Server, and Sky Q to boot. I can see us cutting Sky Q, and Amazon down the line, because there is so little we watch on Amazon Prime, and Sky Q is expensive.
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - CantGetIn - 18-04-2022
I was an avid fan of Sky for many years up until about 2016. I remember getting Sky Digital in 1998. However much the same way with streaming, the content started to change and everything I enjoyed watching mostly disappeared. The closing of MGM HD and their refusal to grant a deal with Sky Q was the final straw. I can't say I have missed it in the six years since I axed it. Even HBO content will be gone soon from what I understand. Sky are building new studios etc so they are serious about their own content, but it remains to be seen if they will manage to meet the other players. Sky in the long run will also be a streamer. Yet the current streamers have managed to produce high quality content very quickly. Sky while they have produced some good stuff, it doesn't seem to cut it 100% when compared to HBO etc. Surely if they wish to retain customers they will need to do that. Most people seem to have Sky out of habit or because they think they need to pay for the free channels.
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - telebox2001 - 18-04-2022
I got rid of Netflix recently as I felt it poor value for money. There just wasn't anything on there that interested me. As others have said every so often they'll have a blockbuster offering but my feeling is overly glossy production values are used to cover poor writing and acting. Also, to be able to watch in 4K is a con, especially if you live alone.
I've got Amazon because I have Prime and there's other benefits but apart from that I don't have any other subscriptions.
Question is, is streaming a passing fad or have the PSBs just caught up?
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - Brekkie - 18-04-2022
I think everyone is watching their spending more carefully. I axed Sky Sports via NOW last year and only stuck with Entertainment as I got a £3.99/month deal. BritBox I've got a free trial for but I just couldn't be bothered with the free trial for Apple I got - even though there is some good stuff on there I just accept now you can't watch it all. Amazon I keep more for the deliveries than the content, whilst Netflix would probably be the last one I'd axe but I do feel I'm using it less and less.
Personally think more choices makes you far more selective about what you watch, which can end up with you actually watching less. Also finding lately I'm far more inclined to rewatch a classic series than invest in something new.
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - London Lite - 18-04-2022
I forgot to mention that I got rid of the Cinema Membership on NOW TV, but kept Entertainment as I get 50% off that membership and the Boost option.
Netflix has the Jimmy Savile doc series which I wanted to watch, but I couldn't justify spending £10.99 just to watch a mini-series, not would I pay for the SD option.
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - Humphrey Hacker - 18-04-2022
It’s not a surprising situation. We all have to “tighten our belts”. I had Sky up until about 3 years ago but cancelled it because it simply wasn’t worth the money.
Far better I think is to keep streaming as a Christmas treat
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - i.h - 19-04-2022
It probably also doesn't help that what used to be like a tenner a month for a one stop shop has now reached Sky-level pricing for multiple separate services if you want access to most of the desirable content. At least you can drop and resubscribe as you see fit, but it's definitely lost its sheen
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - all new Phil - 20-04-2022
Surely anything that surged in popularity during covid and lockdowns is going to decline?
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - simpfeld - 20-04-2022
(18-04-2022, 04:58 PM)telebox2001 Wrote: I got rid of Netflix recently as I felt it poor value for money. There just wasn't anything on there that interested me. As others have said every so often they'll have a blockbuster offering but my feeling is overly glossy production values are used to cover poor writing and acting. Also, to be able to watch in 4K is a con, especially if you live alone.
I've got Amazon because I have Prime and there's other benefits but apart from that I don't have any other subscriptions.
Question is, is streaming a passing fad or have the PSBs just caught up?
I think you are totally on the money here. Everything is SO Hollywood. No problem with some things being like this, but this all seems very one note. The house style is identical for every programme, everyone is sassy (doesn't matter the genre or type of program), the plot lines are very Hollywood and it's all overly glossy with virtually no depth.
Compare this to the BBC or ITV.
It's true to say that UK TV companies have become over Hollywood obsessed. I'm old enough to say I liked how the tone of TV channel really used to change. The Sweeney is nothing like, Bless This House or the Kenny Everett Show. Netflix though have taken a "house" style to extreme and it's very boring.
RE: Streaming services decline for first time! - Brekkie - 20-04-2022
That's a very good point, especially with the BBC but even with ITV who have a clear template for their crime dramas occassionally throw in something quite different. The Thief his Wife and the Canoe had a completely different presentational style to what I expected.