Are We Better Off As Consumers In The Age Of Streaming ~ Blog Ten
Although it is nostalgic for me to think back on renting out Barbie movies at Blockbuster as an overall business video rentals have turned obsolete. Even renting videos off your TV has quickly become something of the past. As stated, I can still vividly remember going into a Blockbuster to rent out DVDs, sometimes the same one over and over, yet with new streaming platforms this type of business doesn't need to exist. Steaming has changed a lot about how we consume TV shows and movies, there are hundreds of streaming platforms out there and subscribing to one of them gives you access to hundreds of different content. Why continue renting content when you can, in a sense, own it, having the content as long as you want as long as your subscription. Furthermore, we see with TV rentals such as Rogers On Demand, that this type of paying to watch doesn't work anymore. It's not that renting services had anything wrong with their business standpoint, but in my opinion, times have changed and the need for such a service isn't needed. Steaming, although it can be costly for some, has skyrocketed throughout the past 10 years. Streaming and being watched anywhere and has anything one would want to watch, leaving it to dominate the market. It's almost competitive nature makes it drive out video renting and even cable networking. In my experience, when my family had subscribed to a streaming service we subsequently changed our cable plan, practically got rid of any DVD players within our house and overall never rented movies again. A statement often made now is “the only need for cable is to watch the news”, yet even then, the news can be consumed through many different platforms. Although it is melancholy to think about when we were younger, eagerly buying new rentals, because of the constant development of streaming it would be hard to say I exactly miss this age of media consumption. It’s safe to say that yes, we as consumers are better off as consumers in the age of streaming. It is a faster and easier way of consuming new and old media from anywhere.
