The State of Streaming Media and Entertainment 2011
Rayburn makes a point of talking to consumers at Best Buy and other major electronics retailers. In doing so, he has found out that consumers see streaming media “as a commodity; that’s the real story,” he says. “They don’t really want to know who makes what, or why, or even really how it works. They just want to take it home, plug it in, and watch what they want to watch—period.”
Taken as a whole, streaming media content providers are dogged by the kinds of problems that go with any startup industry—which is what commercial streaming media still is.
Looking Forward
Challenges aside, the future looks bright for streaming media content provision.
“Netflix will see significant growth in the year ahead, as will Major League Baseball and other specialty services,” says Mcilroy. “Better yet, I think advertisers will finally start to grasp the potential of the streaming media market and put more money into this sector. In fact, 2011 will be a banner year for online advertising.”
“People aren’t going to Blockbuster anymore to get their videos; they’re going online,” echoes comScore’s Piech. “But again, online video is about much more than movies and TV programs. It encompasses a wide range of content choices, and thus provides a lot of business opportunities.”
Useful Advice for Streaming Media and Entertainment
For streaming media content providers looking to succeed in 2011 and beyond, the opinions of the people interviewed here can be boiled down to a few important points:
First, you must offer as much content variety as is humanly possible. This is what people expect from the web, and what they think they already get from cable and satellite. To retain your customers, you must exceed their expectations and keep them very, very happy.
Second, your content must demonstrate clear, easy-to-understand value to consumers. It has to hit them right between the eyes why signing up with your company just makes plain good sense—and benefits them, not you.
Third, the current proliferation of streaming media boxes is confusing to the general public. So whatever platform(s) you select have to be childishly simple to install and activate—and the after-sales support has to be cheerful, fast, and well-informed. (This is not the time to save money by contracting out support to an offshore call center manned by nontechies.)
Finally, your customers do not care about how clever your technology is any more than they will ever stop to sing the praises of their toasters. This is especially true of younger consumers who see digital technology as a ubiquitous commodity that should put their needs first and that requires no consideration beyond turning it on or off. So make your service and the technology that delivers it simple, reliable, and almost invisible. That’s all your customers want.
The Bottom Line
The streaming media content provision industry could be on the verge of a major breakthrough in 2011. The fundamentals are right: The public’s appetite for streaming media is increasing, and content providers such as Netflix and Hulu are seeing this fact reflected in their revenues.
This said, streaming media is about more than TV shows and movies, with much of the growth occurring in niche areas too small for broadcasters to capitalize on. For streaming media content providers, this trend means that they will have to be watchful for new, compelling content as it appears on the web. They must also make their products easy to access, highly attractive, and very competitively priced.
This article originally appeared in the 2011 Streaming Media Sourcebook under the title "Get in the Ring: The state of Media & Entertainment."
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