The Unfortunate Truth About Streaming Services
Something that's been weighing on our minds lately has been how much streaming has become somewhat of an entertainment savior for a lot of people as we all settle into what would have been previously scrutinized as a 'shut-in' lifestyle. While we wish the circumstances to reaching this revelation were better, it's been refreshing for us to see how other people have opened their minds on how time can be spent positively without the immediate assumption that you are just wasting it. It's true that people now have more free time than ever. However, for us, our time has been feeling more and more constrained.
It doesn't even come down to how much time there is in the day anymore. With freelancing as our day job, we have it structured in a way where we are allotted a certain amount of time weekly to complete our work depending on the contract. That, coupled with the fact that our clients are demanding more and more work within the same time allotment means we have to be careful with how we spend our time. Good news though! Since we recently got settled into our place of living, both of us are figuring out more efficient ways to work together and manage our living/working space more effectively.
One of the benefits of our new setup is that we are both able to enjoy working with something relatively forgettable playing in the background when it comes to streaming Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+. However, there has always been a struggle of what to watch while simultaneously feeling like there is nothing to watch. We're certain that those who have or have had cable/satellite TV with a thousand useless channels can resonate with this. Nobody will ever love everything on any channel and that is no different from any particular streaming service.
Take Disney+ as an example. You got your classics, you got your remakes, you got your superhero movies, and you got your rare but usually enjoyable recent theatrical releases. That being said, we're betting that not everything under the Mickey Mouse sun is equally and wholeheartedly embraced. For us, we've been giving the half-baked promise of finally watching all of the Marvel universe movies for what feels like years at this point. Even now, we haven't seen so much as Captain America together! Between the two of us, we may have a total of 4 or 5 watched Marvel movies combined. It's something we are somewhat interested in but maybe that's just for the memes. Who knows?
One thing that has stood out to us about Disney above the other streaming services, is that they still had movies coming out in theatres with a streaming service available simultaneously. Hulu has its originals, and Netflix has theirs as well as original movies to boot. Netflix releasing a movie in theatres, then selling DVDs, then eventually putting those movies on their streaming service was never a behavior anyone had to face. With Disney, that was different. Just a few months ago, people just had to either pay up or wait a long time to enjoy what everyone else had already consumed months prior. In fact, it almost felt like a movie hitting Disney+ was a social media event! Talk about great advertising…
In our opinion, we shouldn't be as excited about that as much as we should be pressuring Disney to stop with the triple dipping of our wallets. However, given today's global climate, Disney's best chance at making money is releasing movies "early" on their streaming service instead of being able to drag it out with the previously mentioned tactics. Of course, they've framed this in a way where they are the "good guys." That Disney is some kind of benevolent and generous being for which we as mere mortals should be grateful for any scraps they deem fit for our consumption.
Do we enjoy the fact that movies like Toy Story 4, Frozen II, and Onward came earlier than we would have normally expected? Absolutely! We've loved each movie that has had the same treatment (not Lion King). There's something great to say about each of these movies and having them sooner rather than later was a great move by Disney. As the idea of a 'blockbuster weekend at the box office" fades and slowly becomes a distant memory, companies like Disney and others who make traditional theatricals, are being forced to find new ways to keep their industry going. While nobody can surely know how long current events will last, it will be interesting to see if all of the other up and coming streaming services can get a serviceable piece of the streaming pie as people become increasingly cost-conscious.
However, the worst-case scenario as a consumer would be just a repeat of cable. Remember cable and channel packages? When companies like Time Warner (now Charter), AT&T U-verse, HBO, and Showtime were trying to nickel and dime their customers, many others were engaging in what felt like a social movement known as "cutting the cord." However, while traditionally TV may be 'dead,' companies all around are just getting started. Hulu keeping ads with one of their paid tiers is just the tip of the iceberg and the worst is yet to come for our streaming dreams. But we might as well enjoy the ride in the meantime. Stay safe and stay busy!
Also drop your suggestions for what we should watch next in the comments below!
