The Benefits Of On-Demand Entertainment

By Olivia Burgin, Courses and Events Coordinator, The Institute of Civil Infrastructure.

Netflix, Stan, Disney Plus, Spotify, Foxtel etc. These are all on-demand streaming services with millions of users every day that we have all probably used, or heard of once or twice, or possibly more. In the present form, you can pay as little as $6.99 a month for thousands of tv shows and movies available at the tip of your finger.

All of this has been a huge change from just two decades ago, with the idea of VCR tapes, and the frustration caused by a family member taping over your favourite show, being so foreign to the newest generation. Not only can you watch whatever you want, whenever you want, but you can also do this wherever you want. This has drastically changed the game for the industry, so we investigated the benefits of on-demand entertainment, here are our top three changes and improvements;

1. The Range of Devices to Choose From

The accessibility of being able to use the wide range of streaming applications from anywhere, at any time also offers the convenience of being able to stream on a variety of devices right from the palm of your hand to high in the sky. All these devices and their constant updates and editions, each time offering even smoother streaming and a higher resolution for playback. Whether you have a mobile device, an iPad, a laptop or a TV, you’ll be able to stream. There has also been the introduction of Bluetooth devices that are used to stream your favourite show from your phone to your tv in a cordless fashion, who knows what the future holds!

2. The Cheap as Chips Pricing

All good things must come at a price, but thankfully, these costs can range from the same amount as uber eats delivery fees or large pizza on a Friday night. Billing wise, availability to on-demand streaming of movies and TV shows is only a fraction of what you would pay to your cable TV provider such as Foxtel, which costs upwards of $25 a month. Overall, you could sign up to all the on-demand streaming services in Australia, and it would cost you less than a Foxtel Plus plan which just consists of 50 basic channels, at a whopping $49 per month. Better re-think that fancy dinner, or new shirt, your Foxtel bill needs to be paid!

3. The Ease of The Options

One of the best things about this new-age entertainment is the lack of lock-in contracts and bulk-billing services. You are not bound, long term, to any streaming service, you can subscribe and unsubscribe at any time. You also do not have to wait on hold or even pick up the phone, all you have to do is access your account, go to your settings and click cancel, it’s as simple as that. Another benefit of having options means you can stream from many different services at one time or switch to another without having to fear any extra costs and contract regulations preventing you from doing so. We all know, in traditional TV, a viewer depending on their location, would only have access to one or two options. And most likely, these options may be enforcing long term and unbreakable contracts, so if or when the customer wants to put their money elsewhere, they can’t do so very easily.

The internet and its convenience, price, and range of options seems to be the future, and the customer base is constantly expanding at a rapid rate since its creation. In 2019, a survey discovered that 12.2 million Australians are subscribed to Netflix, but just 4.85 million are subscribed to Foxtel. In another study, it was revealed that 51% of respondents stated that they would rather watch TV from a streaming service or device, than to watch on their TV. This research is just an insight on the many studies displaying that the future is here, and there’s no stopping it.