Is the “Golden Age” of streaming about to end?
The rapid growth of video streaming over the past decade has largely been responsible for the explosion of internet bandwidth use, and the need for enhanced broadband services. From humble beginnings with funny cat videos on YouTube to the current crowded streaming video ecosystem, consumers have largely benefitted from vast, if confusing, choices. But as this article at Cord Cutter News points out, this growth has become unsustainable and a correction is on the way. This correction is being driven by investors who are being burned by the “streaming wars”.
“Recently though, the so-called era of dumb money where everyone just wanted to get in on cord-cutting at any price. Now companies are cutting back, staff is getting let go, and streaming services are merging” – Cord Cutter News
Another factor at play is consumer fatigue. In the “old days”, while people complained about their cable company and price increases, at least they had most of the content they wanted in one place. Now a person may need to subscribe to several streaming services to get that same content and while each service on its own is not expensive, it all adds up.