On Monday, Amazon officially opened up a streaming service for Amazon Prime members. Then yesterday came the rumor that Google was about to enter the fold with a streaming video service delivered through Youtube. That was quickly shot down. Regardless, the quarrel that Netflix and Hulu started is going to explode into a war with multiple more players joining. (I think Google will eventually, either though subscription or fully ad subsidized.)
Which services will win out? It's going to come down to accessibility, content and price. Can one service sign exclusive content deals? Or can one service provide a significantly better user experience? With those two being equal, price then takes center stage.
My personal biggest gripe with my currently-on-a-hiatus Netflix subscription was that I never really knew what was available. [Content] Most of the time I would search for something that I would want to watch, not find it, and settle for something else. As silly as it sounds, the "unlimited streaming" aspect gave me the confidence that I could watch anything (at least couple years old) that I wanted. That was far from the case.
The lack of having exactly what I wanted wasn't a dealbreaker, mind you. Netflix has a lot of content, and popularity does not equate to quality. I'm all for discovering great yet obscure movies. The problem was that the process of "discovery" was too cumbersome and time consuming. [Accessibility] How I longed for the ability to sort by Rotten Tomato ratings or IMDB scores. I don't for a second doubt that I could have gotten $8 of value out of Netflix, but the fact of the matter is that I simply did not. For what it's worth, I fully expect to be pulled back into Netflix within the next year or so. The reason: [Price]. $8 is less than the cost of a single box office movie ticket, and for guys movies always cost 2x the sticker price.
Speaking of value, Amazon has the benefit of being able to bundle the streaming subscription with its Prime shipping services. "Free" (in quotes because it requires a membership) 2-day shipping is one of the greatest things on the internet. If Amazon upgrades it's pitiful streaming collection to be somewhat comparable to Netflix it has won me (and everyone I preach to) over. Don't get me wrong though, this doesn't need to be a winner take all market.
If these streaming services replace cable budgets, there is ample room for multiple $8/month subscriptions. And in the scenario that competing services each have exclusive content deals, the services really start to resemble our traditional concept of "channels." This will all come together beautifully when we start consuming all these services via set top AppleTVs and GoogleTVs.
What's clear is that this is a big market and a big opportunity. And all of the tech heavyweights are going to weigh in. Even Microsoft, who looks like they're sticking with the Xbox for living room domination. Sidenote: I really hope Microsoft plans on entering the tablet market soon and in a big way. No, Windows 7 does not count.
