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It’s that point of 12 months when MIDiA Analysis makes its annual predictions for 2024. Whereas there’s a sturdy monitor report of accuracy, there’ll at all times be unexpected alternatives and challenges that enhance and buffet the music, video, and video games trade over the following 12 months. As ever, the problem for the entire trade shall be remaining fleet of foot to grab the great instances and beat back the dangerous.
Nevertheless, there’s one occasion in 2024 that streaming TV companies must be getting ready for: the fallout of the Hollywood strikes. No matter latest resolutions to the actors and author’s strikes, disruption will nonetheless be felt in 2024. Expertise and manufacturing workers downsizing in 2023, partially because of the rise of AI and different instruments, have triggered delays to big-budget TV collection and films in 2024. Because of this, streaming TV companies should fill large holes within the launch slate for the following 12 months and past.
This might not have come at a worse time for the video trade. Cinema chains are nonetheless piecing collectively a restoration because the cataclysmic hit to field workplace revenues through the pandemic. In the meantime, streaming TV companies need to attain monetary stability by rising subscribers as shoppers battle the cost-of-living disaster. Releasing a gentle stream of unique exhibits stays the go-to tactic for persuading shoppers to grow to be subscribers. An absence of exhibits hampers this strategy.
Bridging the content material hole
So, how do streaming TV companies fill the void? The apparent reply is again catalogue exhibits. Licensing content material is again in large method. By shopping for in exhibits with confirmed fanbases that have been beforehand unavailable on their companies, library content material can really feel like new to viewers. Video shoppers additionally lean in direction of again catalogue engagement. When requested how they watched video as a standalone exercise, greater than a 3rd stated they watched one thing they’re a fan in Q3 2022, whereas lower than 30% stated they placed on one thing new. Netflix and NBCUniversal’s success with the authorized drama Fits over the summer season of 2023 (regardless of the ultimate episode airing in September 2019) demonstrated the ability of utilizing again catalogue content material to ship watercooler moments.
But, merely importing a welter of library content material onto a streaming TV service won’t make up for the shortcomings of getting fewer new exhibits and films. Shoppers have grow to be educated to anticipate new and unique exhibits for his or her subscription spend. They may nonetheless want contemporary causes to interact. Subsequently, licenced library content material must be paired with fandom-led experiences that ship worth for viewers. Outlined in burnishing the again catalogue are product methods that may prolong engagement time with library content material. For instance, a watch occasion expertise the place Godfather followers may watch the film dwell with members of the unique actors solid would offer Paramount+ with a contemporary engagement alternative and a social media second. A spin-off podcast collection can create a contemporary engagement alternative round a library asset, particularly if licencing groups select exhibits which have a cultural, political, or thematic relevance to at present. Nevertheless, streaming TV operators ought to home these podcasts on their very own platforms, fairly than on third-party companies, in the event that they need to prolong in-app engagement time.
The fandom hub formulation
The content material hole left by the Hollywood strikes should be crammed. Streaming TV companies can be smart to offer added worth to library content material, or danger giving cost-conscious shoppers causes to churn. The disruption must be the catalyst for streaming TV companies to rework their platforms into engagement-rich fandom hubs that present shoppers with a number of contact factors for engagement. Something much less can be a missed alternative.
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