The world’s most important television makers will meet for three days next week on the Côte d’Azur. The industry trade fair MIPTV in Cannes decides what will be shown on the screen in autumn. The topic of streaming has never been as present as this time. Five important trends are emerging – not only for Germany.
More and more providers on the market: Streaming has become an integral part of everyday media life. It’s no wonder that the number of providers is constantly increasing: there are now more than 50 – as a payment model or also financed by advertising. Paramount only started at the end of the year. HBO Max may be added in Germany this year. The Swedish company Viaplay, which is already active in the USA and the Netherlands, could also join this year.
Advertising financing is becoming more important: Subscribe and then see what you want? This is now just one of several ways to get the desired films or series at any time. The reason: With subscriptions alone, expensive content cannot be financed by any provider. The alternative are free or significantly discounted subscriptions in which advertising clips are displayed. Freevee from Amazon, for example, costs nothing. Netflix, meanwhile, has been offering a cheaper version since late last year, Disney will follow soon, and Paramount is expected to do the same.
FAST channels are booming: while advertising is making inroads, media makers have rediscovered the good old linear TV model for the Internet, with content that only runs at certain times: the Joyn platform, for example, also includes providers such as ARD and ZDF in its live stream. Another of many examples of FAST (Free Ad Supported Streaming) is the US streaming portal Pluto TV.
Streamers have discovered the data business: Even if advertising promises financial relief for customers, they still have to pay. And with your own data. Because here lies the really lucrative advantage for the streaming providers. For example, when Disney launched its advertising offering in the United States in December, 46 companies were directly involved in the data business, including Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft.
More documentaries: High-quality fiction series are expensive. For example, “The Gray Man” cost $200 million. The video portals can afford that less and less. The solution: well-done serial documentation. Although the costs can still amount to two million euros per hour, it is still cheap compared to series and can run in similar slots to fiction. “MH370: The Missing Plane”, for example, was in the top ten German series on Netflix in March.
