Opinion: Paramount Plus was launched in the UK and by its own admission, it is not looking to get into a fight with others.
Paramount doesn’t see itself in direct competition to subscribers with the likes of Netflix or Disney Plus, Paramount Plus sees itself as a complementary service available via Prime Video Channels or to Sky Cinema subscribers. So while there will be some people interested in what you have to offer, will they necessarily stay long term?
This question breaks down into a larger idea of a general dip in interest and possibly dissatisfaction with some streaming services. After the surge in subscriptions during the pandemic, I suspected that once the restrictions were lifted, people would go back to “normal” and the interest these services were getting would naturally fade away. This appears to be happening now.
Then there are cinemas. While movie revenues aren’t back to pre-pandemic levels, opening movie theaters seems to have taken some wind from the sails of live streaming. 2022 It looks like we’ll see at least two billion dollars with Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic Universal: Dominion.
So, with people spending less time on the couch (or wherever you watch), streamers have re-evaluated their method of seducing subscribers, resulting in more services embracing the ad-supported model.
Disney Plus and Netflix will switch to ad-supported models later this year to attract those still on the fence, but this is a return to physical TV and whoever wants to Pay for ads? Amazon’s FreeVee integrates ads into its business model, but the trade-off is that you can stream all of their content for free, and unfortunately I don’t see that happening to Netflix or Disney Plus.
The list of content for the rest of the year looks very familiar, but ironically, this could hurt streaming services. Amazon’s Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones’ Prequel House of the Dragon and HBO’s Prey might be great, but these notable series and movies are just the thing that gets people to sign up, and then once that’s done, people cancel. I suspect that once Stranger Things ends, Netflix subscriptions will go back to hibernation. This is not what streaming services want.
This “gold rush” that has propelled streaming services is slowing. This could be an opportunity for those same services to do something different. Most of the recent posts have been about the TV series you didn’t expect like Midnight Mass, Squid Game, and Yellowjackets. Maybe it’s not the obvious that will keep people invested but the little gems hiding beneath the surface. Instead of the old becoming new again, maybe we just need new and interesting things.