If you’re anything like me, you probably spend more time looking up good shows than actually sitting down and enjoying them.
With longer times between seasons, shorter seasons in general, and seemingly neverending series cancellations, it’s hard to find a title you can really dig your teeth into ― leading lots of us to just rewatch our old favourites on loop.
That’d be fine(sih) if we weren’t paying more fees for more streaming services than before ― but most of us are.
So what’s going on?
The numbers have our backs
Survey after survey has found that most of us think the TV we’re watching on streaming sites either hasn’t improved on, or has got worse than, telly from a couple of years ago.
Speaking to Ars Technica, Scott Maddux, VP of global content strategy and business at TiVo’s parent company Xperi said some of it can be down to ads coming in where they hadn’t been before.
“As more and more consumers shift to ad-supported SVOD [subscription video on demand] services, the perception of the content quality may have also shifted downward a bit,” he said.
Then, there’s the fact that new, scripted content is expensive and risky compared to simply rehashing old formats or buying reliable favourites.
“The amount of new original content overall on SVODs may be down [year over year] as many streamers continue to struggle to hit profitability targets,” Maddux revealed.
“Without new original content (or exclusive content deals), perceptions of value/differentiation may decline.”
Then, there are more money considerations
The Washington Post adds that “For decades, the oodles of money from cable helped make entertainment and sports very rich and (arguably) better and more accessible to many millions.”
The idea was that streamers would be able to substitute ad revenue for subscriber fees, giving us an ad-free experience with all our favourite titles.
But The Washington Post says this original promise was more of a “blip” than a sustainable model.
“Streaming is now adopting some of the worst habits of cable,” they say.
The costs are only going up for the consumer, the publication suggests, while ads will be inevitable; companies are refusing to allow customers to share passwords, as the only way they can increase their profits in a subscriber model is by getting ever more customers.
Those extra adds and higher costs combined with the shorter seasons, frequent cancellations, less original content, TV writer and actor strikes, and longer breaks between seasons... well, it’s no wonder we’re spending more time than ever scrolling through our streamers’ homepage.