The current atomization of audio and video transmission platforms has its days numbered. In the not too distant future, the companies that make up the constellation of the present – YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, Netflix, HBO, Disney, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Tidal, Hulu, Peacock and others – will tend to ally or merge, as has happened previously in other businesses and even in this sector.
It is the opinion of analysts such as Adam Rumanek, at the service of the Forbes Group, who emphasizes that, to begin with, a maneuver like this would be highly beneficial for users, since the simplification of the current landscape would favor a significant saving of the money that now as they are now spending on various services.
In addition, their data and consumption details would not be scattered as much, which would mean that the advertising and content suggestions that reach them would be more tailored and useful. These recommendations would be extremely adapted to the tastes and needs of the public, since they would be fed by a wide catalog of previous choices: about films, series, records, songs, video clips, authors or performers.
Be that as it may, if this convergence occurs, it will not be because the companies have thought about the advantages that the audience would get, but rather about the gains that the main players in this industry would achieve, that is, themselves. For professionals and experts, since numerous firms offer both audio and video, they are admitting that the most sensible thing is the confluence. The rest, they add, is a matter of time.
Some recent examples reinforce this thesis. Spotify's Canvas feature allows artists to create moving images that replace static album covers or singles that illustrate plays on phone, tablet, computer or TV screens. This digital giant, which in 2020 already launched video podcasts, in 2023 perfects its streaming offer by adding short visual material, in the style of TikTok.
Because entertainment multinationals such as Apple or Amazon, relevant in some of these areas, are serving as a reference for – initially – hyperspecialized companies. Without going any further, in 2022 the executives of the company founded by Jeff Bezos gave free access to the music catalog to Amazon Prime members.
Eight years earlier, they had paid $970 million for Twitch, an amount almost insignificant when compared to the $8.45 billion spent on the acquisition of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film and television program production and distribution studios ( MGM ).
It may sound like a joke, but the platforms spend more on cloud storage fees, air conditioning for servers and data transfers than paying content creators. And both Silicon Valley analysts and Hollywood specialists are formulating the same conclusion: concentration would drastically reduce these costs.
