Roman Travers: Binge watch while you can; streaming is likely to change

One thing many of us have in common because of the global pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns is the ability to watch endless episodes of quality drama or movies on demand.  Sadly, that may well be about to change. Soon we might be paying more for fewer good options.  You might recall earlier this year when Netflix disclosed that it lost subscribers for the first time in a decade. When the streaming leader started to stumble, it set off a mass questioning about streaming services in general. Although streaming entertainment remains viable, the way we receive it and how it’s paid for will undoubtedly change. Streaming platform commentators believe the total potential market for Netflix might be 400 million customers worldwide, rather than one billion, which Netflix had long said it was reaching for.  You might wonder why Netflix and some other streaming services are releasing episodes of series one at a time or in batches rather than all at once for our bingeing pleasure, that’s partly a result of growth concerns.  Netflix wants you to subscribe for months to watch the new season of ‘Stranger Things’ instead of watching all new episodes in a weekend and then cancelling. Netflix is beginning to push what they call ‘Paid Sharing Subscriptions’ or charging extra to those people who now share a single Netflix password with others. When Netflix was confident about its growth, it mostly ignored account sharing. But those days are gone. It also seems that the 'all you can watch buffet' of endless entertainment available on streaming platforms like Netflix without advertising, may well soon be over too.  You and I might think that we are paying enough as users of these platforms but when they’re not making a profit the only option is to provide cheaper content or to charge you and I more for the privilege of being a customer.  I just hope I can get through the entire six seasons of The Sopranos before things change. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.