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| An image from the musical number "I Wanna Be Like You", a song title that perfectly sums up every media companies attitude towards Netflix |
Now that Netflix streaming has changed how we all consume entertainment, everybody is getting in on the streaming game. We all know Amazon and Hulu also have their own streaming platform but there's also CBS All-Access, IFC Unlimited, Shudder and so many more. It's a lucrative market that many high-profile companies will be attempting to enter in the next year. But it's not a foolproof one, just ask Yahoo! Screen or YouTube Premium. With so many new players entering the world of streaming, it's inevitable that somebody is gonna come up short.
Below, I've compiled the major upcoming streaming services, who owns them, what kind of content they'll host and what possible problems they'll have to face. Let's begin with one of the most high-profile of these new entries into the streaming game...
Disney is revamping itself as a media conglomerate so that it can get in on the streaming biz that has proved so lucrative for Netflix. Part of that revamp will be the launch of Disney+, a new streaming service debuting on November 13th. It'll be home to the vast majority of Disney's film library, plus a number of 20th Century Fox family-oriented features and a whole slew of Disney TV shows. Oh, and no Netflix competitor is complete without a bevy of exclusive original movies and TV shows. This is where Disney will really be leveraging their brand names as original TV shows based on their Star Wars and Marvel Cinematic Universe properties will be debuting within the first year of Disney+'s existence.
All of that content plus an affordable price point (just $70 for a years subscription) makes Disney+ seem like a worthy Netflix competitor, even if questions do remain for the service to answer. Namely, will their original films be of strong enough quality to keep people on the service long-term? How will the live-action Star Wars and Marvel Studios TV shows be able to exist without diluting the specialness of their film counterparts? Not to mention that, historically, Disney chasing trends of the competition results in stuff like Chicken Little, Go.com or DisneyQuest more than homegrown ambitious efforts like Snow White, Toy Story or even the Marvel Cinematic Universe (remember when modern cinematic universes didn't even exist?) It's hard to comprehend Netflix But Disney not being a success but it's also hard to comprehend that some kind of hiccups won't rear their head.
HBO Max
Last week, WarnerMedia finally gave a name to their long-in-development streaming service. HBO Max will drop in 2020 and, for $17 a month, you'll get all of HBO's content plus movies & TV shows from other WarnerMedia brands (like Boomerang or Adult Swim) as well as a slew of exclusive content. It's a one-stop-shop for all of your WarnerMedia needs. There's already a couple of TV shows announced to be headed to the streaming service it's safe to assume recent pricey long-term deals Warner Bros. Television has signed with the likes of Melissa Rosenberg and Ava DuVernay will be used to generate original TV shows for the service. Plans are also in place for the service to release a slate of original movies, with one known feature being a film adaptation of the book Unpregnant.
The massive library of content Warner Bros. has certainly makes HBO Max a formidable prospective player in the streaming wars. Building off the already well-known and highly-regarded HBO brand is also a smart move that should help the service stand out in a crowded marketplace. One thing that is surprising right now is how little of the prospective HBO Max programming slate is utilizing the various brands Warner Bros. has, currently, no TV shows based on DC Comics characters are in the pipeline and nothing associated with Wizarding World is in the pipeline either. TV shows based on Gremlins and their upcoming Dune movie indicate HBO Max won't be eschewing established properties and even if they were, a reliance on original content could help them stand out against franchise-reliant Disney+. More problematic is the $17 starting price, which could ensure that it doesn't become a go-to choice for casual consumers.
Untitled NBCUniversal Streaming Service
Of the streaming services talked about in this article, this is the one shrouded the most in mystery. All we really know about it is that The Office is getting pulled from Netflix so that it can go on this streaming service and that a new TV series based on Brave New World starring Alden Ehrenreich will likely be on the service. We'll have to wait for more details on this one but one struggle it's going to have is that one big media asset for NBCUniversal, DreamWorks Animation, has a long-term deal with Hulu to provide both its movies and original TV shows to that streaming platform. It's not an exclusive deal for TV programming, so you can still get Trolls TV show spin-off's on this new streaming service, but it is exclusive in regards to DreamWorks films, so some of Universal's biggest annual titles won't be available on their streaming service. That's a problem but not an insurmountable one, though they're gonna have to work overtime to make themselves stand out against HBO Max and especially Disney+.
Apple TV+
Remember how Apple did a big dog-and-pony show about their foray into streaming earlier this year? Apple TV+ has got big-name stars (Steven Spielberg! Kumail Nanjiani! Chris Evans!) out the wazoo, an expansive slate of TV shows and even a deal with A24 to provide the streaming service with original movies. However, there's an odd air of uncertainty around this entity, ranging from its unknown price to rumors about the streaming service heavily restricting what kind of content its TV shows can explore. Whereas HBO Max thrives on controversy with shows like Game of Thrones and Euphoria, Apple TV+ seems to be going in the opposite kind of direction and it remains unclear if this creative direction dilutes the quality of programming the service carries.
BET Plus
Part of Tyler Perry's longterm contract with Viacom isn't just to deliver movies like Nobody's Fool, it's to help launch this new streaming service that goes live in Fall 2019. Specifically aimed at African-American consumers, the service will have original shows (no word on any original movies) and also house a library of older content including Madea movies. Not much else is known about the service but trying to capture a market not as directly targeted by the other streaming services is a smart move and underestimating Tyler Perry has been a fool's move in the past.
Quibi
Here's the real wild card of the new streaming services, Quibi. Starting up by former Disney head & DreamWorks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, Quibi is all about bite-sized entertainment that will, according to Vanity Fair, "...run about 7-10 minutes in length". Some of the programs on this service will be long-form original films split up into tiny chunks, others will be standalone entities meant to run just 7-10 minutes in length. The service and its content is also designed exclusively for phone users, as of right now, it doesn't appear that Quibi will be accessible on TV's or laptops. Over the last few months, a whole slew of star-studded content has been announced for the service, the likes of Don Cheadle, Anna Kendrick, Naomi Watts and Zac Efron are just a few of the stars set to headline programs on this service.
To put it mildly, Quibi is a really strange beast conceptually. Whereas the other streaming services are trying to replicate Netflix, Quibi is basically charting its own path with an emphasis on shorter content that can be consumed on-the-go. It's hard to determine whether or not this whole endeavor will soar or sink without having even seen a single image from the service, though the major deterrent it's gonna have to face is pricing. Similar short-form content platforms have excelled in the past, but those have been services you can access for free like Vine or YouTube. Quibi, meanwhile, will require at least $4.99 a month to access with ads and $7.99 without. Putting such a financial overhead on the service somewhat hinders its ambition of being the optimal casual content service. Still, it's worth keeping an eye on Quibi, anyone willing to push the boundaries of scripted programming like this always has a chance, however small, to really change the game.
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