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For streaming service enthusiasts, November can be said to be quite busy. The technology giant Apple first officially launched its streaming service Apple TV + globally on November 1, and then on November 12, now it can be described as It is the entertainment empire Disney that finally released their streaming media killer Disney + in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands.

The streaming market, which was originally about three minutes by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu, has brought two major spoilers in a month.

Apple, which has achieved high profits by relying on hardware such as the iPhone, has unexpectedly shown a pro-people side in the pricing of streaming services. It only costs $ 4.99 per month to experience Apple TV +, and even Apple is generous. Gives the discount of free Apple TV + one-year subscription for new hardware buyers after September this year.

If only from the perspective of price, Apple TV + has undoubtedly become the “price butcher” of the streaming media market, especially in the context of Netflix’s price increase for two consecutive years, the latter’s entry-level subscription fee has also been It came to $ 9.99 / month, and if you want to experience 4K quality it will cost 17.99 / month.

Disney +, which sees Netflix as a competitor, is equally aggressive in terms of pricing. Similar to Apple, users who use Disney + for the first time have a 7-day free trial period, followed by a price of $ 6.99 / month (or $ 69.99 / year).

Since it also has two major streaming platforms, Hulu and ESPN, Disney has packaged and sold its streaming platforms at a stretch. The “multi-platform binding package” includes Disney +, Hulu, ESPN + three platforms, the comprehensive price is $ 12.99 / month. In addition, Disney has also partnered with telecommunications company Verizon, and Verizon customers will receive a year of Disney +.

Can you have good products at low prices? Two plus first experience

Apple and Disney’s low-price strategy naturally wants to quickly accumulate the number of subscribers in the early stages of launch. According to Disney’s official statement, Disney + attracted more than 10 million users to register and log in on the day of launch. On the other hand, This pricing is actually directly related to the volume of content it can provide.

For Apple of technology companies, they have no content other than advertising videos for hardware products. This also puts Apple TV + in a completely self-made situation, and it is not ugly after going online. So far, there are only eight episodes, one reality show, and one documentary in the original content of the entire streaming media, and only two episodes and one original movie have been added in the past month or so.

As a layman in the film and television industry, Apple does still have their natural disadvantages in producing high-quality content. This attempt to enter a new field has also given Apple’s main episodes a very weird temperament.

From the realistic “Morning News” to the historically overhead “For All Mankind” to the fantasy-themed “See”, you can see that each episode has the look that Hollywood popular dramas should have– Star lineup plus high cost production.

But as far as “Morning News” and “For All Mankind” are concerned, the more these two films are developed to the rear, the more we can see the loopholes in the screenplay and performance. The episodes are undoubtedly deadly, at least for the time being these episodes have not been discussed much on social media.

Even if the quality of the content is left out, the original Apple TV +, which is completely original, has to face the extreme lack of content at the beginning of the launch. As a paid user, seeing such a small content library, it will still cost $ 4.99. It feels a bit worthless.

Disney’s situation is obviously much better. Over 90 years of accumulation of content creation and continuous large acquisitions after entering the new millennium have made the resources available to them very abundant. Disney + includes 7,500 episodes of content, 400 old movie inventory and 100Recently released movies, of course, more importantly, Disney will also develop 25 original series of content specifically for streaming media.

Finished homes also make Disney + significantly better than Apple TV + in the first impression. After entering the service, you can see the contents of the five major sections of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic. These are the native content created for streaming.

But even the content that has been accumulated for many years is not as complete as Disney said that it costs $ 6.99. Some works of the Marvel series such as “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Ant-Man 2” The earlier works need to wait another half a year until the middle of 2020, and it is even more exaggerated that, like “Happy Man 2”, which was released last year, users need to wait until 2021 to see it on this platform, and sweep it a little It can be found that this situation is not uncommon.

Most of the content under Flowserve has not yet landed on Disney +, and due to the positioning of the Disney streaming family carnival, it will be difficult to see the emergence of R-level works such as “Alien” or “Deadpool” in the future.

When the freshness is over and I start to try the new content one by one, I can also find that Disney + also has many shortcomings.

In the first wave of original content, there are Mandalorians affiliated with Star Wars IP, and the sequel to “The Youth of Music and Dance: Musical Drama” 15 years ago. The original Christmas movie “Noel” has been an animated feature film “Miss and Homeless” that Disney has been obsessed with in recent years, and has also released a reality show that is too much Jeff Goblen. It is a series of documentary works about the Disney company, as well as animated short films by Pixar IP.

▲ “Mandalorian” poster

If you countIn terms of quantity, the amount of Disney + original content is not even as good as that of Apple TV +, and if it is about quality, there is probably only Mandalorian among the original content of Disney +.

Although I am not a fan of the Star Wars series, this drama still tells a character in this huge worldview in a very fascinating way. More importantly, this young master Yoda shows that That alone is enough to allow many Star Wars fans to continue to pay for this service.

But other Disney + original content is really lackluster, even if “Noelle” is a movie that would have been in the theater, being put into this sequence is more like Disney in order to force the charge, as for the live version “Miss and Homeless”, look at the word of mouth of Disney’s animation adaptation of live-action movies in recent years, you can understand how much this is a standard work.

It can be said that in the early stages of launch, Apple TV + and Disney + also had many software-level minor problems in addition to the lack of original content. For example, the former is not an independent application and is basically tied to Apple’s earlier iTunes store Together, the experience is quite average.

On the day of the latter’s launch, there was a considerable service crash. Until the latest update, the “continue last watch” feature should have been added. Of course, as latecomers, they have also fully learned the experience of industry giants such as Netflix. Both new services support 4K and HDR format content, especially natively created episodes have already used these formats.

Another thing is that Apple TV + also has official Chinese subtitles like Netflix, and Disney + is an account that supports up to four family members to share.

The rising star is menacing, but the final battle is far from coming

Disney and Apple have entered the field of streaming media so strongly. The biggest beneficiaries are naturally viewers who are sitting in front of the TV or holding mobile phones. , Will certainly feel great competitive pressure.

Just a few days ago, Wall Street brokerage agency Needham and Co downgraded Netflix’s stock price rating.According to analysis by Needham and Co, of a financial institution, competition from new streaming services may cause the company to lose 4 million paid subscribers in the United States next year.

However, this number corresponds to the background that Netflix has more than 160 million subscribers worldwide, including more than 60 million users in the United States.

This decline has not stopped since the day when Disney and Apple made a high-profile announcement to enter this field. However, Netflix does not seem to be in the surprise world. They still maintain their existing investment rhythm and insist on going online every week. A lot of content.

Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, recently talked about the “streaming war” that the media is now talking about in an interview with The New York Times.

For Netflix, which already has more than 160 million subscribers, the focus of competition no longer seems to be pure subscribers. “Comparing the number of subscribers is not the right way, but we should focus on the use of users. Duration.

Because many streaming media services are launched, in order to increase the number of subscribers, a large number of free-to-use and bundled packages with other products are often introduced. When users purchase other products and services, they are also converted into subscribers of streaming media services. The growth of the number of users does not directly reflect the competitiveness of the platform. “Obviously his remarks are aimed at Apple and Disney, which have many free policies.

Of course, as mentioned earlier, for new entrants, the low price strategy is the best choice to get fast users in the first place, and early Netflix also used this strategy.

In fact, Reed Hastings has been answering questions about the “streaming war” and increasing competition for the past year. One thing is very important, but it is often not regarded as the focus. MediaPhysical competition is not a “zero-sum game,” and this has been fully explained since Netflix began to move to the front.

In the first few years, Netflix’s competitors may still be traditional cable TV, but they have been facing competition from Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and even YouTube and HBO online platforms for the past decade. Each is constantly optimizing its services and continuing to deliver quality content.

Whether it ’s Disney or Apple this year, or Warner and Universal next year, it will ultimately give consumers more demand. Family Carnival users will naturally tend to Disney and Apple content, and are keen on adult-oriented content. Of course, viewers will not miss HBO Max, and if it is a movie fan, how can they bear the urge to cancel Netflix, which has been working with famous guides for two years.

Just like the studio culture and cable TV, different brands have different orientations and styles. All users need is to use the money to choose the one that suits them best. It is precisely the full competition Create more lively works and more dynamic environments.

Cover image from pexels