Streaming

In looking at how film entertainment has evolved over the years, an especially drastic shift can be seen in the boom of streaming services that followed the Covid-19 Pandemic. At first, these services appeared to be a saving grace of comfort and convenience–allowing one the ability to still bring the luxury of a movie theater into their own home, allowing one to catch up on the newest flicks with a subscription and a click. Though as the world now struggles to mesh the “New Normal” with the normal we all used to know, these streaming services show no signs of slowing down. According to CNBC, the U.S. has given up around 3,000 theater screens since 2019–and those that remain are now tasked with finding ways to remain relevant. In short, the public seems reluctant to dive fully back into the old movie magic of the theater. But what have these screens been traded for?

Each streaming service is a world tasked with populating itself full of movies and shows to keep its audience’s attention–but what do these services sacrifice in the process? Have streaming services begun to trade quality for content, pushing titles with big names and no stories just to fill their slots? What has been lost in the experience of seeing a movie for the first time in theaters now that everything can be watched from one’s couch? Are these changes beneficial, or a deficit to the quality of modern entertainment? This article could go in a number of directions–exploring particular movie franchises, or the evolution of certain streaming services overall. This just seems to be a relatively new phenomenon of the last decade, but one that has altered what and how we watch in extremely poignant ways.

The gaming community, from twitch streamers to youtube let’s players, is synonymous with video games at large.
This has had a number of effects, both on the way that games are made (with features like ‘streamer mode’ which substitute copyrighted songs so that streamers don’t get copyright strikes) and the way games are marketed (with big streamers becoming just as important to get good reviews from as critics).
This article would discuss these effects, and more, that streaming has had on the video game industry. Both in terms of the positive and negative sides – and perhaps what this may mean for the future of video games.

Netflix made binge watching a household phenomenon. In fact, it was one of their biggest selling points.

But now they are going to release episodes weekly instead of releasing entire seasons at once. Why is television reverting back to cable formats? What are the possible cons of binge watching culture and is it sustainable? Is Netflix following HBO Max’s success in weekly releases? Is binge watching conducive to long term streaming revenue?
Additionally, how do weekly releases impact viewers differently than entire seasons being released at once?

What is the function of these categories on streaming services:

Disney – Trending
Netflix – Popular on Netflix, trending now, Top 10 movies in Australia today
Amazon prime – top movies, top tv
Stan – trending on stan, popular now

Psychologically why do we want to be watching what everyone else is? Or if not, why?

How does this work on services such as Netflix, who have their own original content? Can we trust that they aren’t bumping their own numbers?

Also, how do they know what is being watched most? Do they get these numbers anonymously or can they see what each user/profile is watching? Netflix has a category based on the user’s country, so they must be able to see at least some user info with what is being watched.

I have seen writer’s use eg. Bridgertons viewing stats in articles, where do they get these numbers?
Are they released by the streaming services or are these inferred from their places in ‘trending’ categories?

Having these lists and categories seems to guarantee that certain content will reach pop culture icon status (eg. Tiger King), which spurned trends on social media and spin-off shows.
Perhaps this is why the services have these categories, so that everyone is talking about the show/movie that can be seen exclusively through their service.

I know for myself, I watch maybe two or three shows on cable. The majority of content I watch is either on Netflix or YouTube. With everyone gathering their own streaming services now (Disney working on its own, CBS All Access, YouTube Red etc), it is not hard to see that this is where the future is heading. My film professor once told me that soon, cable will be phased out and replaced with each individual television network having its own subscription service, which would essentially be more expensive than cable. How can that be combated when subscription based streaming is super popular? It is an interesting debate to have.

Analyze the upcoming success with Netflix and it’s creation of TV shows. Is this a good move for 2015 and the generation at hand? Or is it a bad move and it’s causing us to watch and be distracted by TV even more because we get these shows in the palm of our hand. We also can binge watch them and watch them over and over, which can be the plus side of this. Mainly want to talk about the millennials and how this is going in their favor or the opposite of it. The 21st century is important and it’s talked about a lot, as far as other generations, so eventually I know Netflix and Hulu are going to be a HUGE thing and it’s something to talk about. Even Amazon has a streaming service, Apple as well and it’s something to just talk about all of these online streaming devices and how they are in favor or against us as a generation. Shows such as: Daredevil, could that be a show you see on regular TV, such as CW or was it better on Netflix. Bojack Horseman as well, it’s raunchy and grim, something that wouldn’t have been allowed on TV (I don’t think), but in circumstances that it would be, can you see that on something like Adult Swim?