I remember when Netflix separating their offerings and raising their price was the big news. Twitter exploded and yes I digitized my outrage – an outrage not because it affected me personally but more because it seemed unfair to those that used the service and now would have to pay a lot more for what what essentially no improvement in value. Why wasn’t I outraged at it personally? Coz even though I started trying Netflix for its “DVDs with no late fees”, I had switched to all streaming. Through my laptop or XBOX 360, I could watch whatever I wanted by the click of a button. No waiting for 2 days for USPS to drop the DVD into my mailbox. Not more putting it into a DVD player. No more sealing the red envelope and mailing it. No more “Oh my god what do I watch next” queuing issues. And that precisely was the beauty of it. It was instantaneous!
Before most of you start throwing out the “You’re just lazy!” accusations, think about it. All forms of media have slowly been progressing towards being instantaneous. Take your news for example. Earlier you would consume it through the morning newspaper or wait for the radio and/or TV. Now? Well you have a ton of ways to get your news when you want it. And hence the demise of the newspaper. Another example? Music. You needed to go to a concert or live gig, then came the radio/TV, then your walkman, MP3, iPods and now there is streaming. And then there is video which seems to be staving off this progress but only by a thread.
Video Streaming is instantaneous.You just get it on demand for the source of your choice. No more waiting for the show to come on, or download or whatever is appropriate to your method. You just find it and voila its there for you to consume. No having to figure out what to get rid off in order to save the downloaded file/TIVO. Its just convenient. Its there when you need it. The problem it hasn’t taken off is threefold. The first problem is that of Internet penetration and bandwidth. Many places still don’t have the required bandwidth for a seamless experience that’ll give the users enough confidence to switch. But that could change in 2-3 years. The second reason is licensing outside the US. There are tons of people who would love legal access to the content but are denied due to licensing and regulatory practices. Third is pricing. Is streaming going to work through universally flat pricing (not everyone has the same earning power as those in the developed countries) or do they set the price based on geography (that’s unfair to those living in developed countries). Whatever the solution is, its right over the horizon and when it comes through streaming will change the face of media much more than we currently anticipate.