Warner Bros Discovery’s Max streaming service debuted in an already-crowded Australian market on Monday.
Warner Bros Discovery executive Jean-Briac Perrette is upbeat about the outlook for the sector, contending that streaming will be a “fantastic business”.
“The streaming business, and the media business, to a large part, is moving towards a handful of successful, big global streamers. The scale that that global reach provides is not only a nice-to-have, but a must-have”, Perrette told The AFR.
“The question two or three years ago was: Can streaming ever be a good business? The question today is: How good a business will it be? And my prediction is, over time, it’ll be a fantastic business”.
Perrette expects Max to be profitable in Australia within three years and has not ruled out acquisitions in the local market.
Much of the HBO content that was previously available on Foxtel’s Binge streaming platform will now be exclusively available on Max.
One has to ask: when is enough enough? The multiplication of streaming services has split content across so many providers that it will ultimately drive Australians back to online piracy.
A little over a decade ago, Australians led the world in online piracy because there was a lack of affordable and timely content.
Then a handful of streaming services like Netflix and Stan entered the market, making legal consumption of shows and movies convenient and affordable.
However, there are now 15 distinct streaming services in operation in Australia, many of which have raised their prices aggressively over recent years.
Australians do not need to subscribe to multiple subscription services to access their favourite music. They can subscribe to only one, such as Spotify or YouTube Music.
By contrast, we are being required to subscribe to multiple platforms for television and movies, which have gotten increasingly expensive as the number of services has grown and membership fees have climbed.
Subscription-based television is no longer good value for money and is becoming a hindrance.
Rising piracy will be the inevitable result.
