Streaming: Reshaping Global Media
Streaming platforms like Netflix and Spotify are revolutionizing media creation, distribution, and consumption, impacting artists and traditional industry structures worldwide.
Topics: media, arts, technology
Example
Netflix and Spotify changed how films, series and music are made and watched. In 2021, Netflix paid about US$17.5 billion for content, according to its annual report, up 39% from 2020. That year its Korean series Squid Game became its most-watched show at the time, showing how a streaming service can turn a non-English series into a global hit and push traditional studios to launch their own streaming services.
Key facts
- Netflix's cash payments for content were about US$17.5 billion in 2021, up 39% from 2020.
Limitations
- Spending figures come from the company's own filings and say nothing about whether the shows were good or profitable; Squid Game's viewing record was also measured by Netflix itself.
Evaluations
media evaluation
Support
Spending of about US$17.5 billion in a year made Netflix one of the biggest funders of film and TV in the world, shifting power from studios and broadcasters.
Counterargument
Streaming has fragmented audiences across many services, so fewer shows become shared national events like TV hits once did.
Rebuttal
Some streaming hits, such as Squid Game, became global shared events, larger than any national TV show.
Additional support
Rival studios such as Disney launched their own services, showing streaming forcing the whole industry to change.
arts evaluation
Support
Global streaming funded local productions in Korea, Spain and India and brought them to world audiences.
Counterargument
Writers and actors in the US went on strike in 2023 partly over streaming pay, arguing they lost income from repeats and success.
Rebuttal
The strikes won new terms on streaming pay, showing creators can renegotiate as the business model matures.
Additional support
Data on what viewers watch shapes which projects are funded, raising concerns that algorithms favour safe, formula content.
technology evaluation
Support
Recommendation systems help viewers find shows they would never have searched for, including foreign-language titles.
Counterargument
The same systems may keep viewers within narrow tastes, and their workings are not public.
Rebuttal
Squid Game's spread shows recommendations can also widen tastes when a title starts to trend.
Additional support
Streaming relies on fast internet, so the shift also depends on broadband access, which is uneven across countries.
Sources
- Netflix (SEC filing) (2022-01-27): Netflix Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal year 2021