Digital Media Concepts/Call of Duty Black Ops 2

Netflix logo created in 2015.

A streaming service is a digital platform that provides entertainment by the means of video or music through a subscription via any device the service allows. Over the years, streaming services have been very popular and are so close to taking over the cable industry altogether.

Early Stages

On September 5, 1995, ESPNSportsZone streamed a live radio broadcast of a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees to all those around the world who had subscribed to the network. They had used newly developed technology by the company Real Networks to conduct this broadcast, for this is said to be the first live-streamed event. Over the years, many companies like Macromedia, Microsoft, and even Apple have developed new technologies to help streaming evolve into what it is today.

Streaming in the Early 2000's

In the years following this, not only did technology develop, but more companies started to create and start their video streaming functions that led to streaming services. One of the most notable events that took place was the creation of YouTube, an online video company that created a website for people to upload videos on April 23, 2005. YouTube popularity skyrocketed, gaining 30-100 million views per day in between March and July 2006. American streaming site Crunchyroll was founded on May 14, 2006, in which they had streamed video media of East Asia including anime, manga, music, and other forms of entertainment. They had streamed all over the world, but founded in America, to give exposure and to make East Asian entertainment available to people in the states. Not only was the US coming up with all of these streaming services, but the UK also developed “Liveleak”, a Youtube-like website that was mainly focused on sharing politics and footage of world events. Streaming service, Youku was developed in December of 2006 and become one of China’s top online video streaming services. Many streaming services are constantly being developed in different parts of the world to cater to large audiences all over the world.

YouTube

Many may not classify YouTube as a streaming service, but it did in fact play a huge role in shaping the streaming industry as a whole. Launched in 2005, YouTube was a digital platform that allowed anyone who was a member of the website to post videos to be available to the public. YouTube gained much popularity over the years hitting millions of hits within that same year. In the years following, they also made a deal with NBC which had paved the way for advertisements and partnerships for many of the content creators on the site. Google too also made an acquisition which ended up being a huge step for the evolution of YouTube and the internet. It wasn’t long after where YouTube in 2007 created a partner program allowing content creators to earn income through their content. Many people had and are still earning a decent living by being a YouTuber. In 2011, they entered the broadcasting business where they had started streaming live content for events like concerts, news coverage, and even the Royal Wedding and the Olympics. What started out to be a predominantly video sharing platform evolved into bigger things like YouTube Red, where they had exclusive YouTube content like web series and movies for its subscribers.

Amazon Video

Widely known for its online store, Amazon was one of the first major US companies to have founded a streaming service in 2006 called “Amazon Video”, or originally known as “Amazon Unbox”. Though the company went through many changes in branding, what stayed the same was the “pay-per-video” streaming service. Amazon though didn’t get very popular until 2018 where they developed “Prime Video”, which allowed Amazon Prime members to not only receive free 2-day shipping on their online store but also allowed an array of movies and TV shows for free with their subscription as Prime members. As of recently, Amazon not only streams movies and TV shows, but they have also started their own production where they have produced their own films and TV shows. To this day, they are one of the more popular streaming services that many people use.

Netflix

Before streaming, Netflix was already coined as one of the world’s leading internet entertainment platforms. Netflix was originally made to be a movie rental service back in 1997. People would order online via the Netflix website and would receive the rental in the mail. They would send it back as soon as their rental was up which was found to be more convenient for those who do not have rental stores near them. They began to grow as a rental service, reaching 5 million members in 2006. 10 years later since its development, Netflix had introduced video streaming where subscribers were able to watch TV and movies on their devices at an instant. By the end of 2007, they had 7.5 million subscribers which continued to grow over the years to come. Now 13 years later, Netflix has over 151 million subscribers and growing, in over 190 countries all over the world. They offer movies, TV shows, documentaries, and such, including Netflix, produced content as well.

Hulu

Just like Amazon Video and Netflix, Hulu is one of the more common streaming services that are widely popular in the US. Hulu first started out as a personal blog in 1999 by Amy Hung, who had used it to share pictures and videos with family and friends, way before Myspace, Facebook or Instagram was ever a thing. In 2007, NBC contacted Amy, where she had sold the site to them for an undisclosed amount. After NBC had purchased Hulu, it was not yet a streaming service, for it was partnered with companies like AOL, Comcast, MySpace, Facebook, and Yahoo!. At this time, they didn’t have any content to put out and were strictly partners with these said companies. In 2009 was when The Walt Disney Company offered a deal to Hulu where they could stream content from ABC and Disney Channel, both owned by the company. Hulu began to grow and wherein 2011, they had gained $420 million in revenue, which was shockingly $80 billion short of the target goal. In 2017, Disney had bought 21st Century Fox in which had included 30% stake in Hulu. Then a deal was made where Disney had controlled 60% interest in Hulu. Today, Hulu is officially under Disney’s complete ownership.

Other Streaming Services

In the past few years, many streaming services have been on the rise. Specifically, TV networks like NBC, CBS, ESPN, HBO, and even Apple have all started their own streaming services where they offer their content on-demand to their subscribers.

Some on-demand streaming TV services are:

- Peacock (NBC)

- ESPN+

- Disney+

- HBO Max

- CBS All Access

- Apple TV+

Streaming Effects on CableTV

Currently, more people pay for a streaming video service than those paying for cable services. This trend is based on the generational difference, where the younger generation are the ones using streaming and the older generation are using cable. In the US, 43% of consumers pay for both steaming and cable services.