In the first Part of Media Platforms War, we talked extensively about the big Studios and their intentions. We talked about Disney and Warner Media plans and how all this will probably affect Netflix, but also how to assimilate some existing services such as Hulu and HBO Now. However, there are other, perhaps smaller, platforms that have already been upgrading their services or are also planning to expand in 2019. Let’s look at them in detail.
britbox
It is a service created by the collaboration of BBC and ITV. Britbox is currently available in America and Canada. According to the company, the numbers are encouraging, having recorded 500,000 subscribers. Although many press releases want Britbox to be “The Next Netflix“, this is not confirmed by our own information. These publications are the well-known copy-paste of targeted articles reproduced from small Blogs with a heavy titles just for Click Bates.
YouTube Premium
We have talked about the Premium YouTube service in a previus article. Content in Original Series is still quite limited. The service is expanding gradually to different countries at $ 11.99 per month and includes all YouTube content without ads and YouTube Music Premium, which costs $ 9.99 alone. Personally, I do not believe that the service justifies the price and is addressed to a few who do not care about Value for Money.
FaceBook Watch
I will speak honestly, as always. I tried enough to evaluate this service, as impartially as I could. Yes, it is available for free. Just press the button on the left on your profile. I did it. I tried to watch the Original Series offered. It is a purely subjective but I did not find any interest. As far as the rest of the content, the only way to describe it is with two words. Dizziness and headache. A hybrid between YouTube and Interactive Live TV. Programs that for no reason were full of balloons and emoticons with various comments while setting up the whole application is not at all functional.
I recognize that it really wants to give a competitive product to YouTube, enabling users and groups to create content. But I do not see a special future, unless the User Interface and generally the user’s overall experience within the service improves. Of course, the company presents it as a success by announcing, in a festive way, the large percentage of users remaining in the service watching videos for over 1 minute
.
The company has already announced the renewal of four original series for a new season, but no special details for new productions. Clearly, many improvements are needed to make the service competitive. I would love to know the numbers of users who Din’t last to watch videos through this service even for one minute. Comments during broadcasting is in the right direction.
Apple TV App
Apple shows clear intention to upgrade TV App service in 2019. The service will soon be available for free to all Apple product users. The company has already released several original productions, with exclusive collaborations, among others, with Oprah and Sesame Workshop. Personally, I will focus on “Foundation” a series based on the well-known work of Isaak Asimov. For those who do not know enough about the service, let’s say that through the application they can add several subscription services such as HBO Now, Amazon Prime, Starz, etc, and watch their programs without leaving the application environment.
Amazon Prime
Here we have a very different proposal. Amazon knows how to do her job very well, and this is Sales. It constantly raises the number of Original Productions, investing in well-known actors and good scripts. From the award-winning
to Julia Roberts and Kate Beckinsale in New Original Series.
It also offers several successful series from third-party producers, while it is possible to rent or purchase almost any Movie or TV Series not available for free. Prime Video available at $ 8.99 per month with a 30 day Free Trial. Amazon, however, wants to establish Prime as a customer class. A very smart move that can be enhanced on many levels. Already offers, with $ 12.99 per month, a total package offering Music Without Ads, digital copies of hundreds of books and free photo storage. At the same time it offers discounts on products as well as free shipping on certain areas.
In any case, Amazon Prime is a service that will have a great deal of acceptance, at least in some markets, and we expect the number of subscribers to go up. The difficulty it faces in the future is when many of the productions it buys from its “rivals” will be available, sometime at the end of 2019, free of charge when the new media platforms will be released. Something that will also affect sales and rentals on Demand.
The only sure thing is that in 2019 it will be a very interesting year and the competition will be for the benefit of the user. We look forward to seeing the movements of all companies. At the same time, we advise you to take advantage of the free Trial that all Media Platforms offer and try them out.
