Cable TV vs. Streaming Companies
Cable and broadcast TV have been the primary source of news and entertainment for decades, but with the emergence of streaming services, can these traditional types of TV be faced with extinction? Netflix, HBO, and Disney are still growing, and more streaming services are emerging and attracting more viewers, taking away revenue from cable and broadcast TV.
Traditional TV and streaming services both have their strengths and weaknesses. Cable TV has been around for a long time and has built a devoted customer base. It provides a broad range of programming, from news and sports to movies and TV shows.
The big plus for streaming services is that they offer more flexibility in viewing times and schedules. They also provide a wide range of original content that isn’t available on traditional TV. Streaming services also provide more of a custom viewing experience tailored to viewers’ tastes that TV can’t match. They do this by keeping track of what you’ve watched and recommending similar shows and movies. The downside is they have to keep generating or buying new content to keep their customers happy
Combining Forces
The obvious solution to the dilemma would be to combine forces and start offering the same type of “regionally relevant” TV programming on online streaming services.
However, there’s a problem with this idea that relates to economies of scale. Online streaming services are incredibly cost-efficient in making their products available to millions of people. They use the already established internet as their transmission infrastructure. This allows them to pump most of their earnings into creating original content that appeals to a wide range of people.
The danger to streaming services comes when they start offering content that only appeals to a limited number of viewers in a region. Their business model is designed to appeal to the widest margin of people, so why would they want to limit their revenue and production budgets?
Until they figure out how to effectively bridge this gap between small and large viewership, streaming services and traditional TV will continue to co-exist side by side.
