#8- Predictions

Future of TV (Streaming Services)

For the longest time, keeping up with you favorite television programs included paying monthly for television service provided by a cable or satellite network like DirectTV or Dish. In recent years, online streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, Sling, and Amazon, have provided people with the opportunity to cut cords with cable and satellite companies and pick and choose their favorite streaming services to subscribe to. Streaming services have allowed consumers to pay to watch TV series and movies that they actually want to watch instead of paying a monthly fee to cable and satellite companies to have an array of channels that they don't ever watch.

With this surge in streaming service subscriptions, television networks may want to step up and create their own streaming service to keep up with the times. Network HBO has already started two streaming services, HBO NOW and HBO GO, where subscribers can HBO series, hit movies, documentaries, and more. Subscribers can use one of the services as part of their cable subscription or utilize an online only subscription for $14.99 a month. Entertainment mogul Disney has been planning to release its own exclusive streaming service in 2019 where subscribers can watch popular Disney movies and series and upcoming/original movies and series made just for the service.

Recently, a report by the The Diffusion Group, a US media research center, predicted that "the unbundling of cable TV packages will accelerate over the next five years, with all major TV networks launching standalone direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming services by 2022." Mike Berkley, a senior advisory from The Diffusion Group said that television networks are "consolidating, bulking up on originals, and marketing directly to consumers" which is, in turn, "driving their strategic direction."

Through the report, The Diffusion Group looked at the following areas in order to create "the industry’s first extensive analysis & forecast of TV Network direct-to-consumer strategies and thus a must-read for media companies, TV networks, digital video platforms, and technology vendors supporting the video streaming ecosystem." They are as follows:

"Total TV Network DTC subscriptions
TV Network DTC subscriptions per user household
Annual growth rate of TV Network DTC subscriptions
TV Network DTC subscriptions by network brand
Average sales price of TV Network DTC subscription
Annual TV Network DTC Revenue"

With this new a la carte approach to watch your favorite TV series and movies comes one big downside. According to a study by TiVo from June of last year, "the average price a U.S. consumer will pay for access to the top 20 channels is $28.31- a figure that's dropped by 14 percent over the past two quarters." Consumers are willing to pay what they have to for streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, but when it comes to a la carte TV packages, it can be hard to find a decent price that a consumer will be willing to pay. Of course, a consumer could compare prices from multiple services to find the best one, but they might not be able to get every since channel they want in the package (particularly the more local broadcast channels). Consumers are still going to be paying for streaming services too, and depending on the number of services they pay for, the costs could add up if they subscribe to many of them.