Streaming has become the “bittersweet beneficiary” of the coronavirus pandemic, says Dietrich von Behren, chief business officer at streaming aggregation service Reelgood.

Docuseries Tiger King helped Netflix far exceed its forecast subs

A growing array of video-on-demand services are competing for eyeballs and the so-called ‘streaming wars’ were already in full swing prior to the Covid-19 pandemic hitting the global content industry.

The worldwide lockdown has only intensified this competition between VoD services, which have emerged as the main beneficiaries of the increased viewing that has resulted from the crisis.

While audiences have been confined to their homes, streaming has boomed. Netflix lured more than double its anticipated number of new subscribers last quarter, thanks partly to hit docuseries such as Tiger King and Michael Jordan-fronted The Last Dance, while newcomer Disney+ achieved 54.5 million subs. NBCUniversal’s Peacock was made available to Comcast subscribers ahead of a full launch on July 15 and HBO Max arrives next week.

Dietrich von Behren

Industry analysis firm Digital TV Research predicts OTT revenues will double by 2025 and has tipped global SVoD subs to climb by 81%.

Additionally, streaming aggregation service Reelgood reported a 400% surge in SVoD use between March and April.

For Dietrich von Behren, chief business officer at Reelgood, the drastic rise does not come as a huge surprise, given the industry’s shift towards internet delivery.

“The landscape of media – and of cable in particular – has been profoundly influenced and affected by the rise of OTT platforms. The phenomenon of cord cutting and the move towards not subscribing to arguably expensive cable packages, but rather going to leading sources like Netflix, Amazon or Hulu, have shifted the focus on to content,” he tells C21.

“What we began to see in the industry is that it’s less about alignment with the actual network per se, but rather it’s the quality of content.”

Nonetheless, he admits the pandemic has greatly boosted the OTT players. “We can’t dismiss the coronavirus. It has changed everything. Streaming is the bittersweet beneficiary when it comes to the pandemic,” von Behren says.

“Now you’re finding that everyone’s indoors, you’ve got parents with kids that aren’t going to school, so that’s contributing to the rise of streaming over the past eight weeks. Streaming viewership is up more than usual because of that.”

The former A+E exec notes there are two sides to launching a streamer in a global pandemic, as Quibi’s Jeffrey Katzenberg found out recently after the launch of his shortform service Quibi.

Viewers are indeed consuming more and are more accessible due to their confinement, although the pipeline of fresh content has also been interrupted due to Covid-19, presenting a complex situation for the OTT players.

“When you talk about Disney+ or Peacock, one could say they’re launching at a difficult time. But you could also argue they are actually launching at the best of times. People are looking for content and are spending more time streaming,” says von Behren.

“However, the reality is more about the challenges that they are going to face competing against each other. Content is the primary driver, so every new streaming service is out there trying to figure out what’s going to be the next Game of Thrones or, more timely, what’s the next Tiger King. What will attract users to them? Consumers have choice and now that each one of these services is an independent subscription, we’re getting to a point where it’s going to appear top heavy.”

Many execs at the global streaming giants will be hoping to retain the new subscribers the pandemic has pushed their way. Von Behren stands by the industry’s old adage that quality content is key.

The Mandalorian contributed to Disney+’s 54.5 million subscriptions

“As the landscape continues to get more competitive, the way to stand out is always going to be content. It’s the water-cooler conversation, whether it’s in reality or across social media. Content is indeed king.

“Streamers must have quality content and continue to pursue unique programming and the audiences will follow. It’s going to be competitive and the reality comes down to making it easy for people to find what to watch, where to watch it.”

The Reelgood exec also warns that the surge in streaming is not necessarily going to continue throughout the lockdown and suggests that viewing figures have already begun to stabilise.

“We actually have been seeing signs of streaming activity slowing down and possibly starting to stabilise, and going back to what it was before. We’ve seen more sustainable levels in [US] states that have partially reopened from April 20 onwards. That’s kind of fascinating and underscores that as people are starting to exit the home and getting back to business, I won’t say that it’s necessarily going to drop, but we’ll see more normalisation. It’s definitely to be expected.”

But for the time being – particularly with HBO Max landing on May 27 – the streaming wars will likely rage on.