Lockdowns and social distancing measures have stomped the lights out of many industries. Meanwhile, video streaming services have found a ray of sunshine. They have been the only thing to keep people sane through months of lockdown and general isolation.
This is the best time to binge-watch the quality content put out online by various streaming services. #QuarantineLife with Netflix and chill is trending on social media. Further, various platforms like Streaming Wars have also sprung up that provide unbiased reviews of streaming services along with amazing discounts and offers.
So, what does this mean for streaming services?
What Does This Mean For Movie Releases?
Fall of Movie Theaters
The biggest effect of the quarantine and COVID is that people have become increasingly averse to going out in public situations. It includes shopping malls, movie theatres, and more. Public gatherings are being avoided at all costs. This means that the entire concept of movie halls and crowding out to catch the first release of many fan-favorite movies will stay obsolete for a very long time. However, streaming services have jumped in to fill in the gap left by the entertainment industry.
Movie Releases
Major productions like Fast and Furious franchise, A quiet Place 2, and Peter Rabbit 2 are going to be postponed. They cannot be indefinitely pushed back. This means, depending on how long the downturns for the movie theater industry lasts, the pushback of movie releases could last forever. A lot of the movies, including major titles, will be released directly from the director’s cut to the streaming services.
Are Streaming Services Booming In A Crushing Global Economy?
While the global stock prices keep plummeting every week, Netflix stock prices are on the rise. Since February, Netflix has seen a 0.8% growth in stock value. This is also not a one-off incident. This has also happened for TV stations like Nexstar which is one of the largest TV stations in all of the US. Since streaming services have become our only source of entertainment, they will start dictating the future of the entertainment industry.
The fact that Disney has brought their streaming service, Disney+, into the market is another major indicator that they realize the tides of TV and movies is turning towards the streaming services. They offer one of the biggest catalogs of movies including many major studios, which is why we can expect more content than we can ever hope to finish.
Disney has seen a massive dropout in their theme park locations, and the streaming service is a way to circumvent the hit in revenue.
Some experts are also speculating of a rebound effect. People have been stuck in homes in front of their TVs for months. There may be a higher number of cinema-goers. But the future of the industry depends on how long the shutdowns across the world last.
Even more importantly, how much people are winning to venture into crowded areas battling risk of infection. Many production releases are getting canceled or delayed, and production companies are thinking of their future in the theaters.
What COVID has for the future of humanity remains to be seen, but streaming services are here to stay.
