The position of streaming services is seemingly strong, but linear TV still reigns supreme, suggests Erika Luzsicza in her short essay.
Media-wise, streaming services seem to be greatly overshadowing linear TV. This is helped by the various records set with some regularity by both global and purely local players. Sometimes it seems that entering the field of online video is a sure bet for success. But this is far from being the case.
It is true that a few days ago, for example, Netflix boasted that it already has over 13 million subscribers in Poland. It has thus by far leapfrogged all the competition, with the second largest player.pl registering only a third of the numbers. It's records like these that entice other players to come up with their own platform.
Let's take a look at France, for example. There, the local platform SALTO is trying to catch up to the global number one. It was created in October 2020 as a joint venture between France Télévision, TF1 and M6. So far, however, the country of 70 million has lured less than three quarters of a million subscribers. Moreover, it still looks like not all registered viewers are paying the full price of €6.99 per month. It is the various discounts and discounted service packages that tend to be an effective tool to entice potential viewers and drive up numbers compared to competitors. After all, compared to linear TV, these projects are only financed purely from subscription fees.
But the biggest setback so far from the transition from the linear to the online world has come from the mother of all TVs - the BBC itself. Its third channel already disappeared from the classical schedule a few years ago. What followed was a steep fall in viewing figures. For the British were mistaken in their expectations of how easy it could be to reach an online audience. After such a huge failure, BBC Three is returning to classic screens from 1 February. What's more, this is the first time in six years that the BBC has "expanded" its linear programme offering.
Author of the text: Erika Luzsicza, Axocom
Source: mediaguru.cz
