discussion Disney+ Raises Streaming Price by 38%, Offers Plans With Ads

[harwee]

I'm confused. I don't have Disney+. But the endgadget article said those who are on current ad-free plan will simply be moved on ad-supported plan. And those who don't want ads would have to pay extra, if i understand correct.

 

I think from a business perspective that is good.

Those who don't want, or can't afford to pay extra $2 won't really stay in the first place. They subscribe then consume everything in a billing cycle or so.

Those who stay do so cause they love the content and will be there regardless of the price increase.

 

But if I'm a streaming exec, I would spread out the release of series into weekly basis, instead of increasing the price. Keeping in mind the type of users I mentioned above, it won't make a difference except give more reason to stay if a subscriber is unsure.

 

 

[magazine]

5 hours ago, skyupsahl said:

Video streaming services are really shooting themselves in the foot; the original appeal of netflix was that for $10 you had a replacement for cable, but now most people are having to subscribe to multiple services to get what they want, prices are increasing, shows are being further and further divided between different platforms, peoples favourite shows are getting cancelled too soon, each site has a ton of filler that just makes it harder to find something worth watching.

 

The music industry mostly beat out piracy by making music so easy and affordable with streaming that piracy made no sense for the average user, video should have tried to go a similar way. I fear piracy is coming back.

For 10$ and "a replacement for cable", Netflix were getting themselves into a huge pile of debt 

It's about long term investment. Any streaming service will increase their prices because they actually start out by losing a ton of money. You were actually getting more than what you were paying.

 

In the specific case of Disney, where they get tons of money elsewhere, it's probably just greed (and because they are a premium brand, they can).

But netflix's only income is literally subscriptions 

Now, you could argue Netflix has already reached it's ideal price and they're now also being greedy. I can agree with that. I think the only reason they're losing some subs is because they've actually reached the perceived max price for a streaming service (while aso not being a premium brand = people aren't blind to it). And they are indeed now profiting. So, I believe (if they are smart) they shouldn't increase it anymore.

 

You might think music industry beat out piracy because we are told so, but artists actually get money from their other endeavors. We only think about big artists and those are already filthy rich. Streaming itselft isn't a reliable source of income for normal artists. Spotify still doesn't make a profit either. Most likely Apple Music makes absolutely no money for Apple (but it gives them consumers, which is a value in itself).

It also costs nothing to produce a song. Freaking Charlie Puth produces a song using his own mouth  TV content costs millions.

TV content (some of them in 4K) can't be stored in a 3 MB mp3 file either. No one watches the same TV content 30 times. Whereas normal people absolutely listen to the same song more than 30 times. Just there you have a huge margin. And spotify still doesn't make profit.

Music services also don't need to fight with artists (unless you're Taylor Swift), everybody will automatically grant them rights for their music. Otherwise, the artist simply doesn't chart, which isn't a good look for them.

Netflix can't do that. Production companies actually ask for money and get in bid wars between the different platforms. Kim Petras can't negotiate sh*t with spotify 

 

In the end, music industry didn't actually beat out piracy. What they did beat was Sony, Warner, Republic and all other major labels not making their own music services  They were lucky. This is also another reason why Tidal, Spotify, Amazon and Apple don't actually need to produce their own content, therefore exclusive content isn't a thing (aside from Podcasts, but no one cares about that) and therefore everyone is happy because you only need to pay for one service. Everyone has mostly the same products. It also should tell you how music services aren't worth it if all of those labels didn't want to do it. Whereas they want to do it in the TV service space. If you think about it, this means TV industry actually beat out Music industry. An industry being worth more than another implies different prices, you can't expect the same thing.

 

Streaming services have also long past the "replacement for cable", because these companies are actually investing way more money than they ever did back then with TV channels. Therefore, it naturally costs more. If you don't like the content they're investing on, you just simply don't subscribe. Even Disney, for all the greedy sh*t they do, are legitimately spending an absurd amount of money on this. It would be disingenuous to want the same content (or even more) and also wanting it to cost less 

 

If you wanna be smart about your money, you'll actually not stay subscribed to any service. You subscribe to one when you need it. Rinse and repeat.