Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery Announce Disney+, Hulu and Max Bundle

[DKampy]

See, that’s why individual examples are helpful, I wouldn’t have guessed many subscribe to that many services at a time. Now I see an example of someone who does!

You would be surprised… I have Disney + bundle(Disney, Hulu, ESPN)Apple +, Netflix, Max, and Prime…most people I know have multiple services… even a few I know with more than me as They include stuff like Paramount and Peacock… and those people I am thinking of don’t even keep up with the content out there the way I do

 

[Disney Irish]

You would be surprised… I have Disney + bundle(Disney, Hulu, ESPN)Apple +, Netflix, Max, and Prime…most people I know have multiple services… even a few I know with more than me as They include stuff like Paramount and Peacock… and those people I am thinking of don’t even keep up with the content out there the way I do

Yes forgot to add I have Apple+ too, I never watch it but have it because of my Apple products.

I think I remember the average number of streaming services that consumers sub to is 4.

 

[erasure fan1]

If every major content streaming platform is charging $30... there isn't going to be a cheaper, better offer to jump to. Just like when they all are using ads... you won't be able to quit just to avoid ads.

But you can just quit. And for a lot of people the answer becomes piracy. I'm not saying the majority will pirate, but I could see it having an effect. Just look how willing people were to give their password to everyone they knew. And that was enough to send the streamers into a panic. It's pretty easy to go online and find whatever content you want.

 

[Disney Irish]

But you can just quit. And for a lot of people the answer becomes piracy. I'm not saying the majority will pirate, but I could see it having an effect. Just look how willing people were to give their password to everyone they knew. And that was enough to send the streamers into a panic. It's pretty easy to go online and find whatever content you want.

That has been the boogie man argument since way before streaming, piracy was going to be what brought down radio, TV, video rental, music industry, and on and on. Its never became as wide spread as many claimed it was going to.

So the people that will pirate streaming content would be the same ones that would have in the past. And content creators will find ways to make it harder to pirate just like they have in the past. In fact I would say its easier to prevent piracy in a digital age then in the prior analog age. Not to say that people won't try, but Disney and other media companies have groups setup just to review Youtube and other "free" services to have it quickly taken it down.

 

[flynnibus]

But you can just quit. And for a lot of people the answer becomes piracy. I'm not saying the majority will pirate, but I could see it having an effect.

Center of mass man... you don't steer the core of your business by the minority who aren't even paying your bills. It's not really meaningful in this discussion over customers having limited alternatives.

You don't say "Inflation isn't going to hurt people... they'll just steal what they need". It's not the scenario that drives the ship.

The majority of the country are not going to switch to Kodi/etc because all the streamers started running ads... just like they didn't abandon cable just because virtually every network ran ads.

The options for defecting are limited, and will get worse in the coming years. The peak of 'just buy what I want, with lots of options' is in our rear view mirror.

 

[erasure fan1]

That has been the boogie man argument since way before streaming, piracy was going to be what brought down radio, TV, video rental, music industry, and on and on. Its never became as wide spread as many claimed it was going to.

I'm not saying it will bring streaming down. but the point was there isn't an infinite ceiling to charge people. There will be a point that enough people say the heck with it and cancel. And if they really want to see said content, there's no shortage of ways to do it. Now maybe there's enough people willing to get taken to the cleaners and none of it will matter. I just don't think everyone will be like, everyone else is 30$ a month so I guess I've gotta just give them my money.

 

[DKampy]

Yes forgot to add I have Apple+ too, I never watch it but have it because of my Apple products.

I think I remember the average number of streaming services that consumers sub to is 4.

I should add those I know that have more are younger than me and do not have cable… their entertainment is streaming… we will probably cut the cord within the next couple of months…, we rarely watch cable anymore… the only reason we have been reluctant to is for live events… however cable is expensive and it hardly seems worth it

 

[Disney Irish]

I'm not saying it will bring streaming down. but the point was there isn't an infinite ceiling to charge people. There will be a point that enough people say the heck with it and cancel. And if they really want to see said content, there's no shortage of ways to do it. Now maybe there's enough people willing to get taken to the cleaners and none of it will matter. I just don't think everyone will be like, everyone else is 30$ a month so I guess I've gotta just give them my money.

If I'm being honest, churn is more of a concern than piracy in my opinion. Not that some won't try, I know people that did even when the services were basically been given away, but its easier for people to just cancel and re-sub later on then to try and pirate. So its such as small number that I don't think its as big an issue as you are making it seem.

The place where piracy will be the biggest issue in my opinion is the live sporting events.

 

[Disney Irish]

I should add those I know that have more are younger than me and do not have cable… their entertainment is streaming… we will probably cut the cord within the next couple of months…, we rarely watch cable anymore… the only reason we have been reluctant to is for live events… however cable is expensive and it hardly seems worth it

I ended up going to DirecTV Stream last year and got rid of my former cable bundle. I just can't cut the cord fully, its the Gen X in me I just have to have a cable service lol.

 

[DKampy]

I ended up going to DirecTV Stream last year and got rid of my former cable bundle. I just can't cut the cord fully, its the Gen X in me I just have to have a cable service lol.

I hear ya…. As a part of the Gen X myself it is a tough choice

 

[flynnibus]

I should add those I know that have more are younger than me and do not have cable… their entertainment is streaming… we will probably cut the cord within the next couple of months…, we rarely watch cable anymore… the only reason we have been reluctant to is for live events… however cable is expensive and it hardly seems worth it

The TV providers like Fubo are great.

If Youtube included ad-free YT for YT TV customers I would switch in a heartbeat to YT TV. They have a great lineup and decent features. But I won't pay the crazy YT Premium price just to kill ads on my phone.

 

[MrPromey]

See, that’s why individual examples are helpful, I wouldn’t have guessed many subscribe to that many services at a time. Now I see an example of someone who does!

I signed up for the same 3 year promo you did and I stuck around for the 4th year with what I'm guessing was the same special discount offer you did and after that, I let my sub go. The content was getting worse, the price was going up and ads (or price was going up even more).

I now have it as an existing part of my cable (that I'm locked into thanks to my neighborhood association). They've got me back but besides advertising, are they making new money off me this way?

I have Apple+, Netflix, and Hulu included with my cell service. I assume they all make some sort of money that way beyond the ads but my bill is the same whether I use these services or not so I'm guessing whatever it is they're getting paid, it's paltry.

The only two I'm currently actually paying for are Max (at a promo of about $6 a month) and Amazon and their ecosystem is so far up my rear I think you'd have to sever a connection directly from my brain to break that so I'm not sure I'd say I'm there for the streaming or that I'd leave if the streaming left.

The Amazon model clearly appears sustainable to me because that was baked into how the service was conceived.

Apple never even has to break even on their service.

As for the rest, I wonder how many of their subscribers are like me or are on the el-cheapo plans. Last Black Friday, Hulu was offering $1 a month for 12 months and you could add Disney+ to that for $2.99 a month. It was weird because D+ wasn't offering any real deal, themselves and this was a pretty aggressive deal set to expire in the fall.

If I have to go from "free" to more than $11 a month for each of these, they're going to become a revolving door because at this stage, I'm not seeing new content that interests me on most of them, most of the time.

But as long as I'm not paying, I'm not churning even if I'm not watching the ads as a result of me not watching the stale content.

Is someone like me who isn't churning actually benefiting them beyond a positive looking number in an Excel table?

Obviously, nobody's exactly like me but I wonder how many find themselves in a similar position and I wonder if with whatever behind-the-scenes deals the streamers have made, that'll be sustainable.

I guess if they keep trying to go cheap on the content that'll hold them over for a while longer but that's a big part of why they aren't getting my advertising eyeballs.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Last Black Friday, Hulu was offering $1 a month for 12 months and you could add Disney+ to that for $2.99 a month. It was weird because D+ wasn't offering any real deal, themselves and this was a pretty aggressive deal set to expire in the fall.

Oh I wish I had seen that - I would have bought that! I was waiting to get some sort of Disney+ deal / offer but it never came around.

 

[MrPromey]

Oh I wish I had seen that - I would have bought that! I was waiting to get some sort of Disney+ deal / offer but it never came around.

They only offered it after you signed up for the Hulu deal.

I'm sure that was intentional to not cannibalize or give most D+ members any ideas as they were facing increased pricing and ads at the same time.

I did it with an address different from what my D+ was (unintentionally at the time) and I wonder if they'd have offered it to me, otherwise.

But then my cell provider included Hulu for free two months later and my cable provider through in D+ a month after that so...

 

[BrianLo]

I’m a mid millennial and I cord cut in 2016 I guess officially. I’d say much younger than me were cord-nevers. Even still I lived with more elder millennials up until that point and I think in the 2012-16 window we were one of the few with cable and it was mostly for Game of Thrones. I think it’s pretty unusual for a millennial to have cable anymore. As you guys say, it’s the Gen X cohorts and above.

I have Netflix (ancient subscriber for Canadian standards predating House of Cards and Orange is the New Black), D+ Star, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+ and CrunchyRoll.

We don’t have Max up here, it’s licensed out to one of our other telecoms that is actually a fairly long standing service (Crave = Canadian Hulu in the original pre Disney ownership sense). Quizzically that one has never captured me. Probably have too many services as it is, but I’m a very bad churner (aka I don’t churn). I’ve pirated the few standout HBO shows.

 

[Phroobar]

The thing with pirating is it takes knowledge on how to do it and where to go. Most people can barely use their iphone much less computer for something that complicated. People that pirate wouldn't be in the streaming audience anyway.

 

[erasure fan1]

The thing with pirating is it takes knowledge on how to do it and where to go. Most people can barely use their iphone much less computer for something that complicated. People that pirate wouldn't be in the streaming audience anyway.

You might be surprised. The other day a lady I work with, who's not all that tech savy, were talking about everything everywhere all at once and how I said I hadn't seen it. I said it's not on any service I have. Her response, just watch it online, I do it all the time, there's lots of sites you can find it on for free. Now granted her computer is probably a maleware mess but is a lot more common than just a few years back.

 

[Phroobar]

You might be surprised. The other day a lady I work with, who's not all that tech savy, were talking about everything everywhere all at once and how I said I hadn't seen it. I said it's not on any service I have. Her response, just watch it online, I do it all the time, there's lots of sites you can find it on for free. Now granted her computer is probably a maleware mess but is a lot more common than just a few years back.

Her computer is like a car with no bumper, broke taillights and spewing black smoke while driving down the highway. It's an accident waiting to happen. She probably doesn't understand why her computer is slow.