Despite the fact that a lot of traditional television is still consumed in Portugal and other European countries, the reality is that streaming dominates the market, and will continue to dominate it for many long years. Especially if the platforms that dominate the market move towards acquiring live content, as is the case with what Netflix is trying to do across borders.
But all of this ends up meaning price increases. Which raises the question… When will prices stabilize? When will we stop seeing price increases every year, or 2x a year?
Netflix, Disney+, etc… Will prices stop increasing?
Therefore, as you may know, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, etc… These are all platforms that have existed for several years, and which were able to explode during the pandemic.
However, it is undeniable that there is no room for so many streaming services, especially when prices continue to increase every year, sometimes with fewer perks involved (e.g. Prime with ads!).
Are platforms more greedy?
It is necessary to understand what is happening for prices to increase almost every year, on all, or almost all, streaming platforms.
Has content production become more expensive? Is it an infrastructure problem? Or are we paying for future bets from these same platforms? Is it just greed?
Maybe it’s greed, or maybe it’s a general problem of rising prices, but it’s also increasingly apparent that consumers are increasingly fed up with paying more.
Just look at what happened to Amazon Prime in 2024. Not only does it now include ads, but the broadcast quality also appears to have taken a “cut”. A change that was the target of immense criticism, and of course, numerous cancellations.
Yes, producing content is increasingly expensive. After all, the 2017 Dark series cost 17 million in total, and that’s not even a high production cost! Since each episode of Loki cost around 25 million dollars. Do you think 25 million is a lot? It isn’t! One episode of the series The Rings of Power cost almost 60 million.
Does it make sense for us to be the ones to pay for the lack of control of the production teams?
Yes and no.
The truth is that the world of streaming is still very young, and no one really knows how far it will be able to go. Studios and platforms are trying to push the limits, to understand what type of content can or cannot be successful, and how much money it can make.
You don’t have to pay for these teams’ mistakes, just cancel your subscription. This is exactly why the space in the market for this type of platforms is beginning to be reduced.
I believe that within a very short time we will see Netflix even more isolated from other rivals, with smaller platforms closing their doors, or joining others.
I’m sorry, but at current prices, there is no way to pay for Netflix, HBO, Disney+, Prime, SkyShowTime, Spotify, etc… There will have to be choices.
That’s why streaming giants are looking at other markets!
Have you noticed the investment that Netflix made in TKO, which is the company that owns UFC and WWE? Can you imagine seeing Netflix presenting live content, such as UFC fights, giant events like Wrestlemania? Or who knows, in the near future… Football games?
This is the way! Especially if it is a more flexible alternative, which does not force consumers to pay a fixed monthly fee to access all content, as is currently the case with SportTV.
Can you imagine wanting to watch a Champions League game, and paying for just that game? Netflix can and should do this in Europe.
Conclusion
Streaming platforms are leading more and more customers to opt for more expensive subscription models, or cancel. As a result, more and more people are deciding to watch television again through their box.
But this is temporary. There is no escaping Streaming.
After all, recent studies show that customers in Germany (or, more generally, in Europe) are simply accepting the price increase without complaining too much.
Thus, at a time when Netflix has just announced that it will increase its prices again in the United States, which will also eventually happen here. The reality is that we will continue to pay, because humans are lazy animals, who want to continue to have access to their audiovisual content.
However, the rope only stretches to a certain point. It is good that platforms are starting to invest more and more in live content, in order to go against the monopoly that currently exists in Europe in live sports, particularly on the football side. If this happens, Streaming will gain strength like never before. Furthermore, there will be the potential to increase prices again, for those who want to pay.
