Something that has been creeping up in many different online services over the past decade has been made apparent with subscription services – whilst this is extremely common in how different forms of media are delivered from movies to music with the biggest platforms relying on subscriptions, it’s also starting to work its way into other markets too as recent news around exercise equipment not working without subscriptions running too – there is the expectation that some online services will always require payment, the likes of gaming choices found at Wish Casinos for example will always require some form of payment and a shift to subscription won’t be all that surprising, but when other essentials do it raises the question of what happens next.
Much like the cord cutters of the past who were looking to move away from the increasing costs of television subscriptions, the same is starting to happen with the online space as the name of the game is in exclusivity. It seems the entertainment options are expanding year on year, where Netflix was once the biggest and clear options to have, now viewers can often be subscribed to Netflix, Prime, Disney+ and recently HBO Max too for all of their content needs and it bumps the required price up, and with a potential promise that box office could move to online streaming and thus increasing the number of options on the market too that cost increases as well. It certainly looks as if its set-in stone that subscriptions are the way forward, and that costs will only increase over time, but could it also be at detriment to the services too?
For some the answer is certainly starting to be a yes, although many are reporting their highest subscription numbers as Disney+ recently managed to reach over 100 million subscribers, but there is the expectation that numbers could start to drop in the near future as viewers pick and choose which ones they’d like to remain subscribed to, and which can be dropped, and as prices changes look to change over time it could influence which many choose, as well as the shows and movies that remain exclusive to each platform individually being a big indicator for why viewers will stick around.
It is an interesting change to be seen, and perhaps not a welcome one for most, but subscription as a payment option will be here to stick around and continue to expand outwards much as it has for software, gaming, and all entertainment alike – increasing prices are taking their toll, and how prevalent these services have frustrated many, but they’re profitable enough that it’s unlikely they’ll disappear any time soon, and will become more common in unexpected places.
