I’ve written a fair few words about the ‘streaming wars’ since they started at some point during the last decade, but recently it seems like the wars have cooled down instead of reaching a boiling point.
Instead, it seems like we’ve reached a point where streaming services are joining together, hand-in-hand.
The Disney+ and ITVX collaboration feels like something that’s different – but also the same as before.
It’s something that I think has been bubbling up for a while because global apps such as Disney+ need the likes of ITVX more than you might think.
The New Reality
While I wouldn’t say that the UK streaming market is in a state of disarray (feel free to say so if you think that), it’s certainly not in its best state, to put it more diplomatically.
If you’ve been following the news recently, the UK government has opposed introducing a 5% levy on the UK subscriber revenues from services such as Netflix and Disney+. The idea would have been that it was paid into a cultural fund that would have gone to supporting the British TV and film economy.
As usual, the UK government was shaky on what it wanted to do, likely because it didn’t want to annoy the major SVoD services, whose investment it wants to attract to the UK.
But the erosion of distinctly British stories is an issue, and the funding for these types of stories seems to be cratering. By all accounts, while Mr Bates vs The Post Office was a huge success in the UK, it was a struggle to sell the series in markets overseas, limiting the amount of money ITV could regain from its investment.
Then there are $200 million series like Andor (which is fantastic, by the way), which has a diehard audience but seems to struggle creating a big audience beyond that.
How to fix that issue? Well, we’re kinda going back to the old ways.
Going Back in Time
As far as TV and streaming go, we seem to be going round in circles. As has been commented a few times on this site, streaming is basically just the ‘new’ TV, except rather than programmes delivered through your aerial, it’s done over Wi-Fi.
Sky has nudged aside its satellite service and jumped into the Wi-Fi pool with both feet with its Sky Glass and Stream devices. Freely is another platform that’s conscious of changing attitudes and putting Wi-Fi first over traditional aerial delivery.
You might also have noticed (I certainly have) that TV series that were available on the major SVoD apps have come to UK on-demand apps not too long after launching. Paramount+’s Rabbit Hole is now on ITVX. Dopesick first launched on Disney+ but is now available on the BBC iPlayer along with The Dropout.
It’s a far cry from the early 2000s when shows like Lost, Alias, 24 or Mad Men would launch on BBC and Channel 4 before eventually (and annoyingly) being snapped up by Sky. But it reflects the changing relationship, or perhaps the unchanging relationship, between big Hollywood studios and the UK broadcasters.
Back in the early 2000s, 20th Century Fox Television signing a deal with the Beeb for 24 would have given it massive airtime because it was freely available and accessible. What better way to get people interested in a TV show if you’re giving it away for free?
Sure, they would have made more money when it moved to Sky, but it would have been seen by fewer people because of the subscription fee involved. A lot of people, myself included, are fans of 24 because it was first shown on the BBC.
And that environment needs to be recreated on the streaming platforms, that symbiotic relationship between the big SVoD apps and the UK on-demand apps could be key to getting more people to watch shows.
The revolution will be streamed
While The Bear is a very good TV series (with a few ups and downs), I imagine its availability on Disney+ becomes something of a straitjacket after a while. It brought new subscribers in during the initial buzz that surrounded its first few seasons, but maybe that’s settled down, and the viewership hasn’t grown. The same for Andor.
So this agreement between Disney+ and ITVX, which shares TV series between the two platforms, would seem to favour ITVX at first glance as the smaller service. But actually, I’d say that it’s Disney that needs it more, despite the struggles of UK on-demand apps.
It needs a bigger audience that it can tap into, in the same way that studios were able to count on back in the early 2000s. While yes, Disney+ would love it if everyone flocked to its service, I imagine it’s much easier (and less expensive) if you got a UK SVoD onboard and marketed directly to its audience.
That way, ITVX almost acts as a satellite unit of Disney+, not directly connected but benefiting from its TV shows; while Disney gets to show more British content on its service, potentially bringing those stories to an even bigger audience.
It’s a weird road we’ve taken, but we’re back to where we once were. Streaming really is the new TV.
