As COVID-19 struck and countries went into lock-down, Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Neon, Hulu, and many more, have seen a historic rise in subscriptions. This has also led to these service providers diversifying their content to meet audience interests across age brackets.
New Zealand’s big news
On July 7, Sky’s entertainment subscription service, Neon will merge with Lighthouse. In December last year, Sky had announced the purchase of Lightbox, the entertainment subscription service formerly owned by Spark.
So after the merger, Neon and Lightbox’s catalogues of TV shows, kids programming, and movies will be combined into a single app. This new service with a strong line up of programming would stand well against the other popular;ar streaming services in New Zealand including Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Another interesting development is Academy Cinema in Auckland – an independent cinema specialising in art-house films – signing up to a streaming platform run by Hamilton-based start-up, ScreenPlus, which enables cinemas to stream films on their websites. Since then Screenplus has seen hundreds of film festivals and cinema chains worldwide signing up on their website.
Last few months have also seen many SVoD giving free access to viewers during the lockdown. Here, the Auckland Library streaming platform needs a special mention. One can watch from a collection of unlimited international movies, documentaries and indie films, free of cost.
Moreover, lots of films that were originally scheduled for releases in theatres are now being released on the streaming platforms.
In Bollywood, most notable case is of Shoojit Sircar’s Gulabo Sitabo, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana, which released directly at Amazon Prime on June 12. Netflix also premiered Anurag Kashyap’s Choked on June 5, and Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods on June 12.
In Hollywood, Apple TV+ will be releasing Tom Hanks’ Greyhound directly on its platform, and if rumours are to be believed, and COVID-19 situation doesn’t improve soon, Disney might release the Marvel superhero film Black Widow digitally.
Flattening the curve?
To get through the stuck-at-home days of the coronavirus pandemic, people across the world have spent significantly more time than usual in front of the TV, gorging on streaming shows, news programs, old sitcoms and video games. But new data shows that, slowly, they have started to wean themselves from their favourite lockdown diversion.
A research study in Havas Media Group’s Covid-19 Media Behaviours Report shows that while media consumption has started to flatten out (or slightly decrease for some streaming channels) in the last two-three weeks.
But importantly, the report said that 59 percent of respondents claimed to be using video streaming platforms more than they did prior to the virus outbreak.
Future
What is noteworthy is that there are a few more SVoD services waiting to be launched like Quibi, HBO Max, and Peacock. It is being speculated that these channels will provide people newer and different options to choose from, as noted by analyst and venture capitalist Matthew Ball on Twitter. “The fact that people are stuck at home will give every new, nascent, and yet-to-launch Over-the-Top (OTT) video service a much stronger shot at success,” he wrote, sounding optimistic about the future of SVoD going forward.
– by Shivangi Bose, an experienced media professional and writer, who recently moved to Auckland, and has a special interest in script-writing for brand videos.