Streaming Content is Literally Everything Everywhere

NAB 

If you find yourself unable to keep pace with the overflow of streaming TV and film — you’re not alone. The sheer volume of content — much of it screaming for our attention — is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant.

article here

“I can’t shake the feeling that the instinct of more, bigger, now has only exacerbated our worst impulses,” opines Jason Parham, senior writer at Wired.

“The choice is either stay plugged in and up to date on everything or get ridiculed in the group chat for not catching any of the [latest] references from the newest season of [insert show here].”

It’s just too much to be enjoyed, according to Parham, who questions if consumers actually need it.

He says, “Netflix and other major services are now learning that blind excess comes at a cost.”

According to analysis from Vulture on spring 2022 programming, “streaming platforms and cable networks rolled out more than 50 new and returning high-profile series” over a 10-week period. One executive colored it bluntly: “It’s almost hurting consumers at this point. It’s just too much.”

On top of the usual clutch of streamer subscriptions, social media apps, such as YouTube, TikTok or Instagram Live, are also offering must-see content.

“During the first year of the pandemic, Instagram Live became appointment TV, as users came together to watch the song-battle series Verzuz, or bonded over the eccentricities of influencers like Boman Martinez-Reid on TikTok,” Parham writes.

Video streaming, Neilsen reported, now accounts for 25% of TV consumption, an increase of six percent from the year before.

Force-feeding, Parham admits, has its advantages. Streamers like Netflix and Hulu “that previously mishandled bringing international storylines” in the US have turned this around. Hence the phenomenon of Squid Game, the South Korean Survivor-style drama about class hostility that become on of the most-watched and most talked about shows on Netflix. A sequel is coming soon.

Yet Netflix’s recent travails, which saw it lose 200,000 subscribers last quarter, could be the start of a shrinkage. As The Hollywood Reporter explained, “A good portion of cuts have wiped out the family live-action film division, and the original independent features division… has also seen its ranks cleaned out.”

Parham welcomes this as a relief (minus the part about people losing their jobs, as he caveats). “By curtailing its efforts, it will give us all a fighting chance at watching its most inspired shows and films. All we want is a little time to catch up.”