Streaming Services: Everybody Wants To Put Their Hand In The Cookie Jar

(I’m going to start this post off with a huge disclaimer. This post is about streaming services in general, not just anime streaming services. While I am about to say a lot of negative things about streaming services through out this post, I in no way condone piracy at any level. That doesn’t mean that I am able to stop you if you do, especially if you have a reason for it if you live in a country that doesn’t support anime or media viewing in general. If you are given the option of legal streaming, even if it’s just to watch seasonal shows a week later then everyone else or something for free, then all I can do is frown at you really.

I know that those option aren’t available for everyone, especially with how streaming outside the United States is like. I’m pretty lucky to be living here despite some down falls as of late.
Judging and preaching does nothing but solidify how other people think, which means what preaching causes much more damage then one would expect. If you are interested, I’ve written a post about legal streaming services that you can use to watch anime for free right here if you want to give it a look. I think it can be helpful to people that want to watch anime for free, because there are legal avenues here that not many people have ever looked for or considered. That’s it, I’ve said my piece. Stepping off my soap box now.)

Remember when streaming services first appeared? There was a promise about how streaming services would allow people to cut the cable cord and watch whatever they want without missing any major television programming and movies? That is still possible on some level, but things have changed? After the success of Netflix and Hulu and niche successes like Crunchyroll, major companies have noticed that streaming services are viable options. Think about how dead center Netflix dead is in our current culture and how Netflix is trying it’s hardest to stay there. Everyone wants to be scene in the same way. The result has been both good and bad at the same time. Maybe there is something to discuss here.

If there is has been a huge trend that has been going around with streaming services, it’s exclusive content. I’m not just talking about the anime series that hidive, crunchyroll, and etc want to put on their platforms. I’m also talking about what Netflix started with its own exclusive content. Every major company wants to make their own streaming platform to do that to produce their own special content. I guess some companies are just like Disney and think they are special because they are Disney, but it’s infuriating too. HBO and HBO Go are something out because they are paid television but getting to watch everything that you want to watch that could have been everywhere on cable a while ago means possibly paying for more and more streaming services. Possibly leading to the cost of cable in the first place?

That all depends on what your interests are though. If you only want to watch anime or generally have a very focus interest list, then getting choice streaming services wouldn’t be to hard. On the other hand, if you are some one like me who wants to watch cooking shows, Star Trek Discovery, The new Young Justice Season on it’s own streaming services, anime, different sorts of television shows, and who knows what else I want, streaming services start getting expensive. Especially since not every streaming service has a three option with ads. I’m lucky that Funimation does so I can at least watch Yamato 2202 in some capacity. With other streaming services, going with free month trials being an option to binge watch shows, what if you physically can’t do that? My mind isn’t built for binge watching because I usually watch many episodes of something and then go “nah” for a month or too. I don’t usually throw my hat in the ring of “look at my first world problems” on my own blog, but at least give me the one, ok? I won’t do this again, I hope.

If there are some advantages to the exclusive content that different companies are producing, it’s the exclusive content itself. Seeing all sorts of shows in the works in some varied interest is something these content creators are going to do their best to make interesting content to make sure everyone stays on board. Or they create their own version of a dark and slightly more unique super hero show, because everyone is making those these days. Whatever it is, it must be something different and unique to keep people interested. The companies in question do this to make sure people keep invest in what they are selling. Keeping business is good for them.

Also, I don’t think I’m being completely fair when it comes to streaming services here. They have so many more advantages over cable because you can watch whatever you want whenever you want to. Even if they can be costly after they all start piling up, they are incredibly useful too. Especially these days when you can install the app onto your phone and watching anime or whatever you want wherever you have a cellular connection. I’ve also done some flying recently for job interviews and I’ve been able to download content onto my phone completely free to watch when it was on airplane mode. With everything comes accessibility, their applications and many other things are incredibly useful. Even if they get kind of buggy and have problems from time to time. To be honest, I am pretty sure that the alternative is not much better in this regard. Who knows where those anime files have been and what they will do to your technology you use to watch a show? Yeesh.

Everything we create has their upsides and their downsides. Anime series can be full of flaws, but also have lots of their strengths too. Everything that is touched by human hands has flaws, don’t pretend they don’t. Streaming services are the same. They used to be this whole “this is going to replace tv through cheap rates” thing. Then reality happened and everyone wants a piece of that pie. Is it still better then cable? Arguably yes. Even with some advancements in cable recently, you still have a lot more control over what you watch when you want to. Like everything else, there was a promise of something bigger for cheaper originally. Reality hits all of us hard, doesn’t it?