A survey conducted into streaming-video behaviour in the US showed that 83 percent of respondents say they now stream TV and movies at home, up from the 74 percent found in a similar survey last year. It appears that the age of the DVD has joined that of its predecessor, the VHS, where it now lives: in the past.
The survey, featured on cnet, was conducted by Crackle, Playstation and Magid and gives a comprehensive outlook on the current state of how media, namely TV shows and movies, is made available to and then processed by the watching audience. But why is this? A good place to start in answering that question is what it offers that the DVD didn’t. In fact, in this case, it is what streaming doesn’t offer that the DVD did: the act of having to physically inject and then later eject a disk. Having to pull yourself up from your sofa after being in a movie induced trance for the past two hours to eject the disk sounds horrible, doesn’t it? To stream, however, all one must do is simply click a few buttons on whatever control they are using, and they’re off.
Only furthering the case that the rise in the use of streaming and the apps they provide as part of their package is because of the decrease in actual physical involvement with the process of setting it all up, is that even when the system is being used all it has to offer is generally organised coherently and easily accessible. When using the app, you’re never likely to have to go more than five clicks away when searching for your desired movie as they are designed with the intention of having their interface being as simple to navigate as possible. For instance, the ShowBox app, of which you can read more here, prides itself in being ‘designed as simple as possible for easy navigation no matter who is using it’.
As well as this, the act of streaming is generally a cheap one, and everybody loves a bit of cheap media, right? Make sure to check here, if you do. Unfortunately, however, not everything in the world of streaming comes with no charge. For instance Amazon Prime Video, a leader in the field whose information can be accessed online, asks for a substantial payment in return for offering its own exclusive content.
So if it’s not the easy accessibility, the free goodies or the exclusive content that are making that elusive 83 percent of streamers, well, stream, then maybe it is just a case of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’? Whatever the reason, it remains to be seen how long the streaming services will be on top, or in fact if they ever will be toppled.
