Exploring The Streaming Revolution
How Netflix dominated the globe, changing everything we know about digital content consumption.
Since the turn of the millennium the transition from analogue to digital content delivery has amassed an irreversible momentum. Analogue radio is increasingly being eclipsed by DAB, terrestrial television signals have succumbed to the UK’s Digital Switchover, and the internet has revolutionised the way we consume everything from music to movies. However, even our existing methods of digital content provision (such as DVDs and Sky subscriptions) are now being threatened by one of the 21st century’s breakthrough developments: streaming.
Streaming used to be associated with staccato, low-resolution feeds of radio stations across an equally flaky dial-up internet connection. Today it’s associated with pretty much everything. Netflix is revolutionising the way we consume films and TV programmes, while the long-established BBC iPlayer has transitioned from a download-oriented platform to a streaming service. Spotify and its rivals have transformed the process of listening to digital music, and the preponderance of auto-playing content on social media sites like Facebook reflects the advent of 4G mobile data and high-speed FTTP broadband access.
It’s hard to argue that streaming represents the future of content consumption, primarily driven by increasing consumer demands for flexibility. Once upon a time, broadcasters could get away with showing a programme at a time of their choosing. Nowadays it’s expected that the programme will be available for repeat viewing at least one week after the initial date of broadcast. Sky and Virgin offer On Demand services that become more comprehensive with every passing year, and the time-honoured satellite movie channels are increasingly giving way to films that start whenever consumers want – another example of streaming gradually usurping scheduled programming.
The processing power required to support these platforms is absolutely vast, yet entirely attainable given today’s scalable technology. Amazon, which provides the hardware underpinning streaming giants like Netflix and Spotify, has established an eponymous Web Services division (AWS) to provide sufficient server power for continual global access. Also used by Government agencies and other large corporations, AWS is the undisputed world leader in terms of cloud provision, adding enough new computing power every day to power 2004-era Amazon in its entirety. Few people know the true size of AWS’s infrastructure, though it’s believed dozens of global data centres each contain between 50,000 and 80,000 individual servers. This hyperscale cloud storage is spread across 11 regions around the world, all connected via privately-owned fibre links that help to evenly disperse fluctuating demand levels from different time zones.
Given the potential for such a colossal infrastructure, it’s easy to appreciate why cloud-hosted streaming services and apps are claiming an ever larger share of our media consumption. The days of collecting and then returning films from a video store (or even through the post) are long gone, together with the days when a VHS recorder was required to capture your favourite TV show while you were out. Physically purchasing music seems almost passé when services like Tidal provide lossless digital music at 1411kbps, and a Spotify playlist represents a best-of-both-worlds hybrid between a radio station and an iPod.
Sky and Virgin’s adoption of on-demand services reflects their tacit acknowledgement that conventional television and radio schedules probably have a finite lifespan. The upcoming new BBC.com website will contain a digital store where programmes can be watched and purchased, and the impending repositioning of BBC Three as an online-only channel reflects the fact that young people (who comprise this channel’s core audience) rarely sit down at an appointed hour to watch a show any more. Speaking of the BBC, it’s notable that Amazon felt able to offer the former Top Gear team a programming budget far in excess of anything the BBC could provide. When a three-series programme contract can be worth as much as £160 million, the balance of power has definitely changed, particularly since streaming providers don’t need to fill a 24-hour broadcasting schedule.
The process of generating original content and supplying it exclusively online is known as “over the top” services. It’s likely that programmes from brands like Apple, Hulu and Amazon Prime will provide increasingly strong competition to advertiser-funded terrestrial and satellite programming in the coming years. It may not be long before the Radio Times and EPGs follow Blockbuster and Lovefilm on the list of services and brands killed off by digital content streaming.
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