Streaming wars heat up

World domination is nary longer the sphere of evil dictators and Bond villains.

Today it is streaming platforms that are engaged successful an progressively costly conflict for power of the world's eyeballs.

HBO Max is the latest to motorboat an offensive.

Debuting successful the US past year, it is coming to six European territories this month, 21 much by the extremity of 2022, and plans to beryllium successful 190 countries by 2026.

Even the Bond villains themselves aren't safe: they were bought by Amazon arsenic portion of an $8 cardinal acquisition of the 007 franchise earlier this twelvemonth arsenic the streamers propulsion immense sums into attracting viewers.

Netflix remains the 1 to bushed with astir 200 cardinal subscribers, acknowledgment mostly to its dense investments astir the satellite successful hunt of caller planetary hits.

It has proved a highly palmy strategy, arsenic the planetary mania for South Korean dystopian amusement "Squid Game" proved again successful caller weeks.

Authentic stories

Netflix is present opening up the African front.

It has already provided scholarships and $1.5 cardinal successful pandemic alleviation funds for artists successful Nigeria and South Africa.

And connected Thursday, it announced a contention alongside the UN's taste assemblage UNESCO to find young film-makers from sub-Saharan Africa to bring section folktales to its service.

"What we are seeing precise clearly, is that the much authentic the stories are, the much they travel," Ben Amadasun, caput of Netflix Africa, told AFP.

The institution is besides experimenting with ways to hook successful viewers crossed Africa, a portion with little disposable income, including with its archetypal escaped work successful Kenya, giving distant immoderate contented successful the anticipation radical volition commencement paying for the rest.

"As the archetypal truly to make beardown planetary content... Netflix is successful a truly bully presumption adjacent now, due to the fact that it's the 1 work that a batch of radical consciousness they indispensable have," said Julia Alexander, of Parrot Analytics.

Competition

However, a increasing battalion of almighty competitors—everyone from Hollywood studios to TV stations to niche specialists—are gaining ground.

HBO Max is owned by WarnerMedia, giving them superior firepower with a immense catalogue that includes everything from "Friends" to "Game of Thrones" and "Harry Potter" to "Dune".

And Disney+, which has an service of superheroes and prima warriors, has besides made accelerated advances—reaching 116 cardinal subscribers conscionable 18 months aft it launched.

"Not each the cards person been played yet—the crippled is inactive evolving," said Philippe Bailly of media experts NPA Conseil.

Up to now, astir large US players specified arsenic Viacom, Paramount oregon NBCUniversal person focused connected their home audiences, since that is inactive wherever the large bucks are made.

But progressively they are looking to dispersed their tentacles into the world, often by combining their assets into 1 large platform.

"Netflix is going to spot truly accrued competition," said Alexander.

Still, she said the caller entrants volition request caller contented to drawback up.

Although subscribers instrumentality astir for heavy back-catalogues, what attracts them to motion up successful the archetypal spot tends to beryllium a hotly anticipated caller show—think "Bridgerton" connected Netflix oregon Star Wars spinoff "The Mandalorian" connected Disney+.

Fatigue

The stakes are high.

Turbo-boosted by the pandemic, video streaming is increasing by much than 20 percent a twelvemonth and is expected to beryllium a $220 cardinal manufacture by 2027, according to Research and Markets.

That volition enactment it astir connected a par with the GDP of New Zealand oregon Portugal.

But similar immoderate agelong war, fatigue is simply a threat.

Customers already look a bewildering array of options, from escaped streaming platforms funded by advertising, to niche streamers featuring Japanese Anime, classical British TV oregon arthouse films.

Wikipedia presently lists 36 antithetic streaming platforms with much than a cardinal subscribers.

Customers volition reward companies that marque searching for contented wide and easy, said Bailly.

"Lost among thousands of progressively abundant offers, determination is simply a hazard of lawsuit fatigue. You can't support piling connected caller offers period aft month," helium said.

"If we privation to debar losing the consumer, we person to get backmost to thing simpler."

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© 2021 AFP