I wrote about the changes in the film industry in late 2014, it's almost three years ago. I wasn't completely out in the woods. You can read what I wrote about the streaming industry and emerging markets at that time.
Now, in 2017, the industry is shaping little by little to tackle the new era of film and entertainment as a whole. The industry itself and the people involved are starting to understand the new open environment where tech-companies are investing in content and trying to keeping their customers or users in some cases. Some new players like Facebook, Apple and Tencent joins "the war" in the coming months and it looks like everyone wants to be the new TV channel, cable network or content provider. This is understandable since having your customers close or locked in is usually not a bad thing for a company of this size. However, I believe the market and naturally, the consumers will decide in what direction this will take us.
The last years has shown us that quality content is still prevailing in the real world and consumers seem to follow companies who take them serious. This could be why Facebook announced they will invest one billion into original content in 2018. Facebook needs to work hard to keep up with Netflix but it is a start and could be a test run to see if this can keep consumers on their platform. Facebook had a run at Youtube with their own video effort as well so this comes as no surprise.
Tencent unveiled a 43-title production, distribution and investment slate for 2018, this could be a risky strategy, we can all agree that It is aggressive. Maybe it will be successful, it all depends on the quality of the productions they produce and how they will distribute the material. Will they use their own or sell the rights to other major players?
There are a few companies who have made some substantial investments in streaming and original content during the years, Amazon and Hulu, HBO of course and others are competing as well. Hulu's Emmy win marks it's step into becoming a major player in the streaming industry. Hulu was a company I didn't bet on becoming a major player so it was a surprise. The Handmaid's tale is however a great show, you can find the book on Amazon. With the Hulu win, it will be interesting to see how everything changes in the coming years.
Update: Hulu's senior VP of content Craig Erwich actually said the same thing in an article on Variety which just came out.
What I can say with complete certainty, is that any business that wants to succeed in this digital landscape needs to adapt and understand that change is guaranteed to happen. The market can shift quicker than ever before and probably will. Creatives has a new world to explore and that too can easily change but today, creatives are in a very good spot. They didn't need to struck gold, the market did it for them.
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