A Digital Revolution

During the last year and a half, people across the globe have learned to adapt to an unprecedented pandemic lockdown by trying to make the best of a bad situation.

Kitchen tables transformed into school desks and makeshift offices. Happy hours were replaced with glitchy Zoom calls. And more than 1 billion people worldwide sought entertainment by way of on-demand streaming services. 

Yes, billion.

According to a report released by the Motion Picture Association this past spring, the number of global subscriptions to online video services reached 1.1 billion in 2020.

That’s the highest recorded number yet, according to the report, and the United States takes credit for 308.6 million of it.

Last year was the beginning of a new era in the entertainment world. People found themselves at home, searching for ways to keep busy. Movie theaters closed so viewers retreated to their devices — cell phones, iPads, smart TVs that connect to the internet — and discovered their love for shows on streaming services including Netflix and Disney+, two of the most popular on-demand streaming services worldwide. 

Blockbuster movies planned for theater releases went straight to streaming services so viewers could access them from just about anywhere.

People who hadn’t binge-watched shows before were quickly taking up the habit and busy families got their evenings back because the pandemic eliminated most social events. 

That extra family time was welcomed by many, including Pam Kassis of Wellington. For her family of four, it meant snuggling up in front of the TV, while discovering shows on Netflix and Disney+. That was something they hadn’t done much of before the pandemic, even though they were already subscribers of both services. Today, even though social-distancing rules have laxed, she’s still making movie nights a tradition — something her two boys, ages 10 and 12, love.

“We were picking a movie every other day because content ran out on cable,” Kassis says. “With streaming, you didn’t have to wait for another episode. It was there at your fingertips, so all you had to do was press play.”

Options Abound 

For consumers like Kassis, there really is no downside to on-demand streaming services, says Gene Del Vecchio, an adjunct professor of marketing at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. 

There’s a substantial amount of content for people of all ages and most streaming services are affordable. Sometimes they’re even free because businesses often include subscriptions as incentives to purchase things like digital devices or cellphone packages.

On-demand streaming services also make it easier to view a show because you don’t need a TV to watch. Many watch a favorite series from a cellphone, a laptop or an iPad, — from almost anywhere. With streaming services, TVs aren’t viewers’ only options. 

And subscribers seem to like having options.

According to research conducted by the Leichtman Research Group last year, 82% of all American households have at least one subscription to an on-demand streaming service and 49% have three or more services.

Del Vecchio explains that streaming services also serve as a great alternative to cable.

The cable companies were already experiencing a dramatic reduction in subscribers even before the pandemic, he says, and COVID-19 has accelerated it. Some households don’t even have TVs. 

Kassis, however, does have a smart TV along with other common digital devices. Since the pandemic, she’s added streaming services to her lineup, including Hallmark TV and is teetering on subscribing to Discovery+, but the cost is holding her back.  

“Four dollars here and $13 there, it all adds up,” she says. 

And the more streaming services added, the more overwhelming it can be. 

GroovyTek Co-Founder and President Matt Munro hears this complaint firsthand from his clients in South Florida. With offices in Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens, GroovyTek helps customers, mostly ages 50-80, catch up with the digital age. Among other things, it offers webinars with its most popular one being “Cutting the Cable Cord,” which analyzes the benefits of canceling cable for each client along with exploring what streaming services would suit them best. Some consumers are hesitant to eliminate cable because the alternative can be overwhelming. 

Munro acknowledges that it can be overwhelming for him as well. “Every other week there’s a new platform being promoted because every single organization is trying to claim their place in line,” Munro says. “We just went through a significant year but we’re still in the middle of this digital revolution.”

Even so, Dan Rayburn, a streaming media expert and analyst based in New York, doesn’t believe there will be a finale for cable TV because some people want to keep things simple. “There are now so many streaming services out there,” Rayburn says. “As consumers, we love choice, but sometimes choice also comes with confusion.”

Streaming Giants

At the beginning of the pandemic, Rayburn recalled when Netflix projected it would add 3 million new subscribers in the U.S. in 2020. 

According to Rayburn, it ended up adding 14 million.

“But they said, ‘We don’t expect to keep a lot of these people. We know a lot of this is because people are sitting at home because of the pandemic,’” Rayburn says.

Still, Netflix is fighting aggressively to keep that number high, spending billions of dollars each year to produce original content. Last year alone, Netflix was said to have spent more than a staggering $17 billion, a commitment to new content that paid off with shows like “Stranger Things,” “Bridgerton” and “Tiger King.” 

In 2019 though, Netflix met its biggest competition yet. 

Disney+ went from zero subscribers when it launched in 2019 to more than 100 million global subscribers in just 18 months, according to Rayburn, who, along with other streaming media experts, projects that number to increase even more. 

Disney+ subscribers gain access to content not only created by Disney, but also Pixar, Marvel and National Geographic. And don’t forget about Disney+’s original shows like “The Mandalorian,” a “Star Wars” spinoff which stole the title of the most watched streaming series earlier this year based on the number of minutes watched, according to the global marketing research firm the Nielsen Corporation. Viewers spent a whopping 1.336 billion minutes watching the series the week of December 14, 2020 alone. 

“The Mandalorian” beat out “The Office” on Netflix for the 2021 title, just as “The Office” said goodbye to Netflix and landed on NBC’s Peacock streaming service this year.

Disney+ also decided to go against the grain of binge-watching and implement a weekly release schedule for some of its shows, which is reminiscent of the good ole’ television days when viewers watched an episode a week. Keeping fans waiting in suspense is a way for subscribers to remain hooked and committed, something Kassis can attest to.  

“We would talk about it all week long,” Kassis said of “The Mandalorian.” “And then every Friday night we would watch it. It was a lot of fun.”

While the lockdown has helped on-demand streaming services like Disney+, Rayburn says the pandemic hurt others who lost subscribers as viewers decided to take their business elsewhere. He lists Hulu, YouTube TV, Sling and Quibi as examples.

Quibi shut down in the fall of 2020.

Many wonder if movie theaters will be next.

Will Cinemas Disappear?

After more than a year of being closed, theaters across the country are beginning to reopen, while a few of the smaller chains have decided to close their doors for good. 

And while some may assume that movie outings could soon be a thing of the past, Rayburn predicts that theaters will always be around, explaining that it is all about the experience: people want to go on dates and movie buffs want to sit in a dark room in front of a gigantic screen with impressive surround sound. “Tons of people will go back because of what makes us human,” Rayburn says.

He also expects blockbuster movies to continue to launch on streaming services just as they have this year. The highly anticipated movie “Black Widow,” for example, is set to debut in theaters this summer and, Rayburn says, Disney+ has announced the movie will be available on the streaming service the same day. 

Disney+ has already released two other major movies — “Mulan” and “Raya and the Last Dragon” — bypassing theaters since most were closed. Movies make more money at the theaters, Rayburn said, and though viewers may have been happy to have had access to the movies at home, Rayburn doesn’t believe it helped Disney financially. “Disney is a public company and has never put out any numbers around how well “Mulan” did,” he said, adding he believes that is because the numbers weren’t good. The only caveat was that viewers had to pay a $30 premier access fee to watch them.

For many families, including the Kassis family, that price is less than what they would’ve paid at a theater. The average cost of a ticket is around $9. Add popcorn, soda and candy and the total quickly climbs. 

These are reasons why Kassis anticipates watching the latest hit movies at home, even after the pandemic is over. She can snuggle with her children, wear her pajamas and pause a movie for bathroom breaks. For Kassis, it’s a no-brainer. “I really don’t think I would miss the experience,” she says. “I think it’s awesome that it comes to your home.”