Netflix, YouTube and Spotify. These are brand names that have become verbs in themselves and that have turned our media use upside down. Burning albums and films suddenly became a thing of the past, illegal downloading decreased and turnover for music and film companies increased for the first time in years. The big question is whether this development will continue: will the increase in the number of different streaming services lead to a further decrease in the number of digital pirates?
Streaming services provided a legal alternative after an era dominated by Kazaa, Limewire and The Pirate Bay. The number of European internet users who downloaded illegally decreased between 2014 and 2017. The media landscape was reasonably clear, despite the new players. For commercial-free music you could go to Spotify and iTunes, you could watch foreign series via Netflix, HBO; series from Dutch soil via NPO Start Plus and Videoland. This was still reasonably possible with a cleverly chosen trial subscription here and there.
Nibud: Too many subscriptions
However, with the announcement of new streaming services, I fear that consumers will look for other solutions. The average consumer now already has 11 subscriptions, according to the Nibud. This costs hundreds of euros annually, and no fewer than 30 percent forget to cancel a subscription in time. How much financial room does the consumer still have for new services such as Disney+ (movies and series), Amazon (movies and series), Apple TV+ (movies and series) and Stadia (Google's 'Netflix for games') in addition to the existing players?
Enough supply?
A small part will probably consciously change and be sensitive to exclusive content, as is now happening with Game of Thrones and Ziggo. However, the majority of consumers will not be looking forward to this. If every provider continues to offer content exclusively, the supply will be too limited to take out subscriptions everywhere. Without German scenes, where you get huge fines for downloading, I expect that a large number of people will be tempted to download or stream illegally again.
An issue that seemed buried together with the empty CD-ROMs and USB sticks returns. This probably means that organizations that received less attention in recent years will return to the public debate. Organizations such as Brein, directors and actors will undoubtedly complain that consumers are once again seeking refuge in downloading and pressing politicians for stricter measures and higher fines. Rightly so, of course, but is that the best solution? Together with the platforms, they must consider how to combat this problem and prevent piracy.
