
Social, Streaming Don’t Compete, They Compliment
Content Insider #915 – Social Biz
By Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com
“I think we’ve all arrived at a very special place. Spiritually, ecumenically, grammatically.” – Jack Sparrow, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” Disney, 2003
Why, why is it always us versus them, they’re beating us/we’re beating them?
We’ve never understood why for us to win, they’ve gotta lose.
Take video content.
There are varying flavors of long/long videos (movies, shows).
Then there are long- and short-form projects.
Some are designed to entertain us, explain things to us, educate us, and yes, sell us stuff (ideas, products, services) in a hopefully interesting, attention-grabbing, entertaining fashion.
People – researchers, Wall Streeters – like to categorize them, even though ordinary folks, especially Gen Zs and younger, just see them all as video entertainment.
More importantly, rather than being competitive, we feel they have a symbiotic relationship.
For example, movies, whether they appear in a theater, are streamed or are “made for television,” find that using long and short videos can get folks into seats at theaters, at home in front of the TV or (gawd forbid) watching it on their iPhone
The stuff works … honest.
The same planning, scripting, creation, production, and distribution goes into the content regardless of how long they are or the size of screen they’re viewed on.
Global Run – It is almost coming to the point where we can say the world runs on video. Especially when you compare the other content that moves across the internet.
Maybe that’s why more than 75 percent of the content that moves across the internet is video – news, ads, social media, video sharing, video streaming – watched on high-resolution large screens and small, anytime/anywhere screens.
To ordinary people, it’s just content they want/need … now.
If you want to thank/blame anyone for your insatiable “need” for instant video viewing; you can probably blame Susan Wojcicki – who, unfortunately, died of lung cancer in 2024.
She perpetuated the Silicon Valley dream by renting her garage to Google founders, Serge Brin and Larry Page.
She later became Google’s third employee and then CEO of fledgling YouTube, the firm that Google acquired in 2006.
She’s largely credited for making the video service the powerhouse it is today – the largest video service – entertainment, information, education – in the world with about 2.8B monthly users and revenues of more than $36B.
Big Money – While YouTube is the largest online video service, it doesn’t actually create content but leverages its services by making content available from a full range of advertisers and creators. Being a big time YouTube or social media celebrity keeps lots of folks dreaming the dream but … it isn’t easy.
Not bad considering they don’t really pay to produce any content and make their money from advertisers and subscriptions.
Of course. they’re nice and share some of the ad revenue with creators.
Individuals such as Jimmy Donaldson (Mr. Beast) and Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (PewDiePie) earn $650M plus and $5M plus respectively.
Video apps folks and those who are selling training services love to hype these and other big earners as well as the fact that the average YouTube creator makes $68K, they don’t tell you that there are 50M creators around the globe.
Yes But – It goes without saying that those making most of the money on YouTube and the other social video services get the most attention. But the vast majority of the casual and full-time creators barely make ends meet … if at all.
Some studies say it’s closer to 300M – full, parttime, etc. – and experts note that video creators have to constantly develop new/fresh content to keep followers/viewers coming back for more.
In other words, your chance of financial success with YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and other services is about as good as being “discovered” working at an LA soda fountain.
But YouTube did start the online video phenomenon which shows no sign of slowing down because it seems that everyone suffers from FOMO.
Social Pros – One of the best ways for people in the professional content field to stay visibile (and available) in the marketplace is to highlight their skills and talent on social media video.
In addition, there are other reasons professional video content creators, producers, actors and post people should consider getting involved in long/short video, even on a sporadic basis and even when it doesn’t yield the big bucks.
Whether you normally work in front or behind the camera, write or post, direct or do great VFX developing and posting your own long/short videos is a great way to highlight your talents, try new/different things and keep your name/talents in front of people who are hiring for films/shows.
And if you make a few bucks along the way, that ain’t all bad.
Screened Up – While streaming services create/distribute content for the big home screen, they also know that people have become accustomed to watching content on whatever screen they have close at hand.
However, it was Netflix that professionalized and raised online video from bits/bytes to real entertainment that lets you sit back and enjoy anytime and anyplace, on any screen.
With 300M subscribers in more than 190 countries, revenue of nearly $11B and a market cap of about $434B; researchers/analysts place Netflix at the top of the streaming video service arena.
As arguably the first and certainly the largest streaming video service (sorry, we think of YouTube as an ad service), Netflix has evolved to survive and thrive over time.
That growth is due in no small part to its subscriber/viewing habits information database, some pretty intelligent management moves and selective use of advanced Gen AI.
The data has aided them in choosing the right content creation teams, then providing them with the tools/information they need to develop projects that will attract and retain the broadest audience possible for as long as possible.
Content creation/production teams may say they want to “do their own thing” – and they do – but they also want people to watch till the closing credits and maybe -just maybe – watch it again and again.
Data is a helluva tool to make that happen.
That data also helped Netflix make the somewhat surprising move into gaming and most recently their aggressive move into live experience entertainment.
Ads, Budget – Given the opportunity to save on their entertainment budget and watch a reasonable number of ads, most people will consider the time as worth the investment.
That same data helped management realize that the best way to reduce/eliminate churn and attract even more subscribers was to raise more money by adding a limited number of ads and lowering subscription fees.
Yes, we know folks who “hate” ads.
In fact, one friend is very adept at signing up for a service’s free trial, watching everything he wants, then dropping it and moving on.
As for us, we enjoy a few intelligent ads and hopping into/out of services is just too much like work.
The ads are getting better because the smart streaming video services are helping advertisers maximize their ad investments and better understand their audiences to develop the right ads for the right audience and not spray garbage everywhere.
Strong Attraction – The introduction of lower streaming subscription costs with ad-supported and free streaming services has become increasingly popular for households. And with more intelligent ads, the switch will continue to grow.
The lighter, more intelligent approach has proven to be a boon to free and ad-supported services.
Late But – Netflix was one of the last streaming services to offer an ad-supported plan but the option is growing in importance to new subscribers and to the company’s profits.
“A little late” to the ad-supported arena, Netflix is expected to quickly make up lost ground and garner significant revenue while steadily increase subscribers by appealing to their budgets as well as offering a rich, constantly changing content library.
Yeah, we were one of those people who went all in when FAST came on the scene.
Then, when subscription services offered “an option,” we switched because a few minutes of intelligent ads are a nice break in the action.
But that’s us!
Still, the challenge has been in finding the one movie/series we want to watch when you have six services with hundreds of great entertainment options on each.
Sure, we could simply go to Amazon Prime, Disney + Apple TV+ (daughter is an Apple fan), Netflix, Pluto or Tubi and “settle” on a project that looks interesting but then we’d probably never stumble on that movie/show we’ve just “gotta see.”
Jumping into and out of our services, searching for that movie/show is a pain.
So, we do what millions of other folks do, turn to our kids’ video entertainment services and check out the latest streaming offerings from all of the services.
Promos – Social media videos have proven to be an effective way for streaming services and content owners to help consumers find specific movies/shows when they subscribe to multiple services.
You know, watch the trailers and promo videos that have all of the best drama, horror, action, and laughs packed into a 30-sec or couple of minutes video.
Some people like to make the case that we’ve gone beyond the streaming wars and have moved to another battleground … the great media war.
You know, pitting media/content companies against creators and the creator economy.
Sorry, but we don’t buy that.
They’re two totally different types of video content.
A longer form video story is built on an interesting and sometimes complex storyline that draws you in and entertains/keeps you involved for a couple of hours (sometimes a lot longer).
When it’s done, you are left with something that really affects you.
It’s totally different from a project that you can watch for 30 seconds to 10 plus minutes and then you move on to the next video bite.
When they have a few minutes between classes or meetings (and sometimes during them) people increasingly find short videos a solid choice for entertainment.
YouTube and social media videos are really focused on reaching the younger audience that was born in the digital age.
It’s all about satisfying their shorter attention span entertainment needs or quickly giving them the information/ideas they want so they can move on to something … more important.
In a world where content is king, there’s room for; and in fact, a need for both.
Granted, short-form videos do take a little time away from watching movies/shows; but they can also serve as the gateway for people to discover longer content.
According to a recent Hub Research study, those trailers/short-form videos help the younger (and rapidly growing) audience tap into shows/movies more quickly.
Word of mouth helps them spread the good news – and bad – about a film/series to increase viewership.
It also gives studios and streaming services the data they need to develop projects months/years ahead to meet an entertainment demand that is just beginning to become important/profitable.
It’s not a battle between big media and big tech or even a struggle for people’s attention and time because they’re both (long/long form content and long/short form content) going to survive and thrive.
Social in/out video isn’t going to mark the demise of good and tentpole projects because people want/need both and there will be lots of times when we’ll use both at the same time.
Always Ready – Even when people are watching a movie/show on the big screen their smartphone is always close at hand and at times when your interest lags, watching a few social media videos can “fill in” the time.
It’s called multi-tasking and trust us … kids are good at it.
The two forms may look the same, but movies/shows are a lot different than a quick entertainment snippet and the distance between the two is wider than it looks.
Jumping back and forth can be … difficult.
Just because YouTube consistently outpaces Netflix and the other streaming services doesn’t mean people spend time with them for the same reason … entertainment.
All Video – YouTube viewing may consume a lot of people’s downtime but what they watch and how they watch it is much different from sitting back and watching a streaming movie/show. Digital video isn’t all the same.
It’s true that data doesn’t lie but it can give you the wrong answer if you start with the conclusion you want to achieve and work your way backward.
Just ask a pirate or a politician.
Remember what Jack Sparrow said, “I’m dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It’s the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they’re going to do something incredible stupid.”
There’s a big difference in spending 5-10 minutes watching a YouTube video that explains how to effectively wipe content from your system’s hard drive or your phone’s memory and kicking back to watching a good movie or TV show.
Or, if you like to live on the edge, multitask.
What’s the worst that can happen?
After all, it’s all just video.Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com – is an author of more than 800 articles on management, marketing, communications, industry trends in media & entertainment, consumer electronics, software, and applications. An internationally recognized marketing/communications consultant with a broad range of technical and industry expertise especially in storage, storage management and film/video production fields; he has an extended range of relationships with business, industry trade press, online media, and industry analysts/consultants.