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Since 2007, digital streaming platforms have transformed the way viewers consume content. Their growth, in quantity and uptake, thoroughly disrupted the entertainment industry and over time drove tens of millions worldwide to “cord cut” from traditional offerings.
Now, however, these once-innovative “disruptors” are in a challenged position themselves, facing intense competition and market pressures. First-movers are struggling to maintain the subscriber and ROI growth expectations that underpin their equity valuations, while new entrants face daunting challenges to attract customers. Recent earnings releases and industry reports have confirmed subscriber headwinds and content cost increases for top streamers.
This new reality is driven by three inter-connected factors: one-dimensional business models, market saturation and a lack of consumer-facing innovation.
Most streamers rely on a subscription model that is vulnerable to churn and retail pricing pressure as well as content cost increases as competition mounts. Those that embrace an advertising model are constrained by the “race to the bottom” for media advertising dollars and increasing viewership fragmentation. Subscriber growth has also stagnated worldwide with a large percentage of the potential consumers already subscribing to one or more services.
To make matters worse, streamers have only attempted to differentiate themselves from one another based on content, at much higher sourcing/development costs. They have failed to innovate their product offerings for consumers, essentially presenting the same static platforms that have not evolved since the inception of long-form streaming.
The challenges have been recently highlighted through recent negative earnings announcements from Netflix, widely considered to be the streaming industry leader. These realities have shone a spotlight on the platform, and the streaming industry business models. The Wall Street Journal and other major news outlets reported the streaming giant has suffered from subscriber attrition and investor flight, bringing the problems to the front of industry dialogue. Netflix recently confirmed they are now considering lower priced ad-supported packages to try to combat these business headwinds.
Given the current issues, as well as the stature and influence of most streamers, it is surprising that none have developed a true economic “flywheel” to produce ongoing, self-generated synergistic value.
One cutting-edge technology company, however, will likely soon change this and shake up this snoozing industry.
Web3 innovation leader droppLabs has been quickly rolling out its proprietary, AI-based “shopatainment” technology across several industries – and it is now poised to transform the streaming sector.
dropp’s ground-breaking “See it. Want it. Get it.” technology allows consumers to experience the products they are inspired by in a futuristic way and shop directly within streaming video without ever leaving the content.
A few initial attempts by streamers to integrate shopping into streaming platforms failed to gain traction due to flat and clumsy consumer offerings. Now, however, through dropp’s patent protected AI object recognition technology, viewers can easily identify, experience and purchase the products they are seeing in real-time without leaving the streaming environment.
The application of dropp’s solution seems simple but is the result of years of intense technical development that has made this revolutionary capability possible.
dropp’s operating system delivers a comprehensive and efficient solution for both streamers and consumers. These capabilities are integrated directly within a streaming platform’s service, both in functionality and branding, and can be easily activated by viewers on the device they are watching on, or through a second-screen experience. Transactions are enabled by a robust e-commerce engine that ensures secure and efficient payment and fulfillment.
Most importantly, dropp’s offering also features an interoperability with its Web3 product portfolio, including enabling streamlined experiential commerce between the physical and digital worlds.
The end result is a special consumer experience that will deliver game-changing value for streamers through retail sales, customer acquisition and retention as well as granular data attribution.
droppLabs is in active discussions with various providers, so it is only a matter of time before dropp’s technology hits the screens. “We have booming interest from content platforms across all industries, including streaming. Given hyper-competition in the space, a need for innovative consumer-friendly features and fresh commercial value in terms of revenue and subscriber count, we are confident viewers will be enjoying our See it. Want it. Get it. technology very soon”, commented Gurps Rai, droppLabs’ CEO and co-founder.
Now, with so much on the line for the streamers, the biggest question is – which company will seize this unique opportunity first and sprint ahead of the pack?
