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To say 2023 was a tumultuous year for the media and entertainment industry would be an understatement. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes caused studios and streaming services to scramble to find ways to keep programming running. Amid the double strikes, the streaming wars raged on. Here’s a look at some of the recent trends that will shape the year ahead.
The rise of FAST services
As streaming services continue to raise subscription prices, customers have attempted to find ways to cut costs—including free. According to a Hub Entertainment Research study, more than half (55%) of consumers said they use at least one free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service, such as Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Tubi, Amazon’s Freevee, or the free version of Peacock. Perhaps there’s no greater example of the service’s success this year than Freevee’s Jury Duty, which quickly became a word-of-month hit, catapulting it to the top of U.S. streaming charts. Earlier this year, Tubi announced it was beefing up original programming in its catalog to lure new subscribers.
The great rebundling
In the spring, Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled Max, the result of HBO Max merging with Discovery+, to broaden the appeal of the new flagship streaming platform, while Paramount debuted Paramount+ with Showtime to domestic audiences shortly after. Meanwhile, more streaming bundles began rolling out this year: Disney—which already offered a bundle with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+—launched a one-app experience, offering Hulu and Disney+ programming in the same space. Recently, Apple and Paramount were reportedly in talks to bundle their streaming services at a discount, while Verizon announced it would offer a $10 bundle for the ad-supported subscription plans of Netflix and Max streaming services. An AlixPartners study found that about 70% of new streaming subscribers will get their subscriptions from streaming bundles, or with plans that combine a streaming subscription with cable TV, broadband, or wireless plans, as opposed to stand-alone streaming services.
A big bet on sports
According to one study, 29% of viewers are watching sports on streaming services like Prime Video. At the end of last year, YouTube TV acquired the NFL’s Sunday Ticket for reportedly $2 billion, beating out Disney, Amazon, and Apple for the package. The deal allows subscribers to watch the Sunday Ticket as an add-on for YouTubeTV, or as a stand-alone purchase on YouTube Primetime Channels. Last year, Prime Video began live streaming Thursday Night Football games, which saw viewership go up 25% this season. Netflix announced last week it will livestream a tennis match between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz in the spring, while Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed last month that the company will launch a stand-alone streaming app of ESPN in 2025.
Studios uploading entire TV shows and films on social media
Pirating content online isn’t anything new, but Gen Z has been turning to social media to watch full episodes and movies for free. On TikTok, a quick search shows that the platform is overrun with episodes and parts of full movies uploaded by users, while an uploaded version of The Super Mario Bros. Movie was viewed by 9 million people on Twitter before it was taken down. To meet users where they are, Peacock experimented with releasing programming on social media and uploaded the pilot episode of its comedy series Killing It on TikTok in five parts, which according to a Peacock spokesperson, garnered 7 million views. A month later, on October 3 (aka Mean Girls Day), Paramount uploaded the entirety of Mean Girls on TikTok. A study found that nearly a quarter (23%) of TikTok users are more likely to discover entertainment content on social and video platforms versus other platforms.
Reruns are back in (again)
This isn’t exactly a new trend, but it’s one that’s been building as more consumers become cord-cutters. Unsurprisingly, popular classic shows with massive fan bases like The Office, Friends, Seinfeld, and Breaking Bad continue to find success on streaming services. Some other recent examples include Nickelodeon’s 2005 animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender debuting on Netflix, making it one of the most-watched children’s shows during the pandemic, while the CW’s Riverdale and All-American have trended on Netflix when it was made available on the platform. This year’s biggest example was USA Network’s Suits, which gained newfound popularity after being licensed on Netflix, pushing it to the No. 1 spot on U.S. streaming charts. If the success of Suits proves anything, it’s that licensing might be the way to go if networks want to generate interest in (and get paid for) some of their older programming.
That movie you didn’t watch might grab your attention as a 3-part limited series instead
When BlackBerry came out in theaters this spring, it was met with much critical acclaim for its acting and storytelling, and earned $2.9 million at the global box office. In October, IFC Films released the 121-minute-long film as a three-part limited series with 16 minutes of unseen footage. “I look at this as a way for a smaller, independent piece of work to double-dip and find its audience,” director Matt Johnson told Variety when asked about the decision to recut the film. Last month, Hulu premiered Faraway Downs, a six-episode series, which is an reedited version of Baz Luhrmann’s 2008 film, Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. While the original film has a running time of nearly three hours, the series adds an extra hour of new footage, with some plot changes. While Australia received mixed reviews when it premiered, Luhrmann told the Daily Beast that he wanted to revisit the film, and leaned on episodic storytelling to present the story in a different way, in hopes of giving it a second chance with some viewers.
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