Beyond Streaming Wars: Rethinking Competition in Video Services

Abstract

Internet-distributed video services have attracted exceptional attention in recent years for their novelty and growth. Business and trade discussions frequently excerpt internet-distributed video services from the broader field of video and narrowly construct their relationship as one of direct competition (e.g., streaming wars). However, there are several distinguishing characteristics of these services that make their relationship more complex. This article explores the multifaceted distinctions and markets within internet-distributed video, including differences in programming, geography, audience, business model, and market position. We also consider what is at stake in different imaginings of video markets for media industry scholarship and policy.

The TV Ecosystem is Fragmented and in Need of New Business and Technological Strategies

“…But the main challenge for the strategies proposed in this paper will be the existence of a signifcant number of OTT operators willing to actively collaborate with a pay-TV operator in an aggregator model of this kind, given that the sector is currently experiencing a "streaming war" [35]. With that, and with an appropriate business model, pay-TV operators could reap the benefts of providing a unifed UX and being a single point of contact for a signifcant part of the content consumption of its customers, through a seamless experience that would give them the choice they want.…”

Digital subscribers: Between freedom and constraint

“…One consequence of the rise of streaming culture and the expansion of the digital subscription business is what is popularly known as streaming wars (Watercutter, 2020): companies such as Disney or Apple compete for economic and cultural predominance in the streaming market (Wayne, 2022). However, Lobato and Lotz (2021) consider that reducing the competition between content providers to the mere term of streaming wars prevents us from appreciating the multiple dimensions involved in this industrial, cultural, and technological phenomenon, such as the characteristics of the content, the different business models, or the broader industrial context of the digital platforms.…”

Reciclajes seriales en la era de los servicios de vídeo bajo demanda

“…La bibliografía académica dedicada a la irrupción de los servicios de vídeo bajo demanda en el ecosistema audiovisual ha mostrado un especial énfasis en Netflix debido a su popularidad internacional y liderazgo en la expansión de los nuevos consumos audiovisuales. Aunque una parte de esta bibliografía se ha centrado en aspectos relacionados con el consumo (Castro, Rigby, Cabral y Nisi, 2019), otra se ha ocupado de su marco regulatorio (Novak, 2016;García Leiva y Albornoz, 2021), su configuración industrial en el contexto de la emergencia de las plataformas (Lotz, 2017) y su expansión con ambición transnacional (Lobato, 2019;Lobato y Lotz, 2021).…”