The fall of Netflix has shaken the entire entertainment industry. streaming, forcing companies to look for alternatives to pay and retain users in their subscriber base. An option that the platforms of streaminglike Netflix, HBO Max and now Disney + is the insertion of advertising in the content in exchange for a lower subscription price.
Peto this new business paradigm would break one of the great virtues of the platforms: avoid commercials to the user to see their favorite content.
For Claudia Benassini, a specialist in restricted television and digital platforms and a researcher at La Salle University, the entrance of advertising on the platforms of streaming It is “like going back to the open television scheme, but with the disadvantage that in Mexico advertising is very bad”. Despite this, the specialist acknowledges that it would be an option to access digital content despite the economic situation the country is going through.
“It could be like YouTube, where there are subscribers who pay for not having ads and those who don’t pay get ads as part of their content,” explains Benassini.
David Chávez, VP of Marketing at The Walt Disney Company Mexico, acknowledges that the entry of commercials could be seen as “a regression to a model in which it was apparently evolving”, but it is a necessary paradigm to democratize access to media platforms. streaming.
“I think we are finding different alternatives in which the user can decide whether to invest in a platform that does not have ads or if he prefers not to invest so much in one that does have ads,” says Chávez in an interview with Expansion.
According to data from the consulting firm The Ciu, at the end of 2021 there are 12 million users with subscriptions to online platforms. streaming, of which 56% have one account, 27% two and 17% three. The average expense is 135 pesos per month.
Radamés Camargo, an analyst at The Ciu consulting firm, points out that although the new insertion of advertisements into the contents of streaming It can be annoying for users, it is an alternative that is required both to access the platforms and to sustain the business model of the companies.
vix, streaming of Televisa, is an example of how companies are already beginning to look for alternatives for their business even before launching, since it will have two subscription models: free and fee-based, Camargo points out.
“(The user) cannot have access to all the platforms because the pocket is not enough, but they had to access the platforms for some new business model such as advertising, and at first the users may be annoyed, but eventually there will be a awareness on their part that they can access this content in a more economical way”, expresses the analyst from The Ciu consulting firm.