How Studios Are Losing Billions By Pushing Streaming Instead of Physical Media 

I'm so sick of paying more each month for streaming and then some movies and shows disappear or move to brand new streaming platforms. Long live physical media!

I'm reminded of a story of a businessman in the mid 2000s who wanted to buy a warehouse in Ohio. Inside this derelict space was a ton of vinyl record stamping machines. The businessman told the owner, "sell me this space and I'll get rid of these old machines for you." The old owner, thinking physical media was "dead" happily agreed. He got the building at a discount, and now its a vinyl pressing plant again and he's making millions.

I think as people realize streaming is so temporary and you own nothing, physical will come back stronger. There will be a balance between physical and streaming.

They want streaming for the same reason ebooks exploded in popularity. Maybe partially because you will be CONSTANTLY distracted. But I think the real reason is to have digital control (nefarious editing as seen with Disney's The French Connection), over the product, as well as having the ability to track everything you watch. It's a great way to build a social credit profile.

I got rid of all my streaming services I was paying for and just stick with free ones. Having a vast physical media collection, I don’t feel the need to pay for stuff I’m not gonna watch.

Great video! What upsets me most about streaming companies is how often they refuse to release even their most popular shows on blu ray or 4K. They can't make a strong argument that doing so would hurt their subscriber numbers *that* much. They're already releasing some shows on Blu ray. If doing so damaged their bottom line too much, there would be zero Blu ray/4K new shows on disc. But that's not the case. I gotta believe it would help the streaming companies more financially to release their most popular shows on Blu-Ray & DVD than to not. Same for many movie exclusives. But the hopeful news is that the streaming business model can't exist unchanged for another 5 years. So, perhaps the changes they'll have to make will bring more physical media into the fold - both customers and releases.

If you ask me, EVERY physical film release should come in a Collectors edition format - slipcase (possibly hardcover), audio commentaries, interviews, trailers, extras, digital copies, disc artwork, paper inserts or booklet, and even possibly reversible art. If all major studios did this people would buy it, because they're getting more for their money, not just the film. By releasing bare bones copies, buyers are not seeing the incentive and choose streaming whether or not it goes away in a month.

Ralph seems like a guy who’d be super fun to hang around with and have great movie discussions 👍 Studios really need guys like him again.

I still find it interesting that TV's being made these days are the biggest and the best they've ever been, yet streaming quality is still good at best. I am so glad disc sales are still healthy, and so many great earlier movies are getting the quality 4k and BD releases they now deserve.

It's so short sighted to not give every (or almost every) movie a 4K/BD release, they have all the 4K/2K masters all that is needed is to print the discs and distribute them. The studios are losing out on so much potential profit by not releasing them physically. Hopefully they will see the error in their ways before they go bust (WB in particular)

It almost feels like a game of chicken between movie studios and consumers. The studios clearly feel like streaming/digital is the profitable answer, but there are growing concerns from consumers about the quality and permanence of the movies. I feel like people are willing to do physical media, but streaming almost needs to implode and studios need to refocus efforts on it.

Raiph makes a lot of sense ...I think streaming has almost reached it's natural growth..so the only way for them is to raise prices....

For the last 3yrs I signed up to Netflix, Prime and the local ones here in AUS such as Stan and Binge, and I've now cancelled all of them. I just find that most of the content on there, especially TV Series, isn't worth watching. I still have a large physical collection that will keep me entertained for years to come. Thank god that companies such as Umbrella, Shout and various others are putting in the effort of releasing special editions and collector's editions for movie fans that will never give up on physical media. The only streaming service that I dip in and out of is Shudder because my fav genre is horror.

A friend of mine was talking about this a few weeks ago, and when I mentioned to him that I was baffled that the revenue losses didn't make the studios change course, he looked at me and said "The only thing corporations care about more than money is control. They'll spent a dollar to count a nickel just to make sure they're the ones getting it. If they're knowingly losing money, it's not about money, it's about control. That's what you gotta figure out: how it works that way." I won't share what else he told me about how it would work because I'm terrified about putting that idea out in the ether provided it hasn't happened already. He says that it has, but I don't wanna take the risk.

I’m seeing a lot of Physical Media pirates jumping in and selling all the Marvel shows and animation and Star Wars shows and animation that people want. I don’t buy it myself but it’s exposing and untapped tip of the iceberg on demand for the physical media market. A company like Disney could be making a per unit profit equal to the monthly subscription fee for Disney plus. They could sell via their own label, in house DMC, or licensing to the fine boutique labels like (my favorite) Kino Lorber… They are literally ignoring a huge market because of the rhetoric about streaming being current. Yet here we are in 2023 with Vinyl, CD coming back, blu ray resurrected via boutiques, books are still popular including the rise of the Omnibus and collected editions. All of this is showing how some very intuitive individuals have found ways to reach the customer base and provide great customer service. Organic Price Books is a great example. They specialize in the comics collect editions and provide the best packing and shipping experience.We need an Organic Price Books like company for the rest of physical media (blu ray, other books, CD and vinyl) because Amazon is damaging everything, shipping them in plastic bags or worse.

"There must be something I don't know!" yup, that about covers it

Here in Canada Netflix quietly eliminated the basic tier package. You can't pump millions of dollars ito content and Wright it off. This is a shortsighted way of doing business. You need to have more than one arm of the business bringing in the money. Netflix has to make their orginal more accessible not hold it hostage. They may as well be gollum" my precious". You can't force people to to join your streaming service.

We the film collectors and lovers must find the silver lining in this. I have found that watching these studios especially disney burn their companies to the ground to be one of lifes simple pleasures.

Physical media sales were bound to decline when streaming began to emerge. However, studios let physical media sales dwindle rapidly by not lowering the price of physical media to balance the scales with streaming services. Instead they held fast to their greedy ways ensuring the slow painful death of physical media.

I was just having this conversation with a friend the other day that they should first bring the movies to Blu-ray and then streaming at a later date but literally things are being available for streaming first then Blu-ray which kills the need to want to buy it in the first place.

Why don't they offer both streaming AND physical media? More patrons, more profit.

Here in Australia i worked retail that sold dvds, they sold well, even low budget movies, but then for no reason they cut back most of the dvds, now they hardly sell any titles despite how well they were selling, its insane. Why ruin a good thing.

And of course, with physical media, you get the commentary which is sorely lacking on the streaming services.

Hello Cereal At Midnight, Have you read about the constant purging of titles from streaming services in the past few days? Parmount Plus has purged a lot of great content, including a "Star Trek" series, so not even franchises that are proven successes are safe. And it's causing a backlash. If they keep this up, I have a feeling streaming may not survive. This is why we need physical media now more than ever. What are your thoughts?

I buy and OWN every movie I love on physical media. Nothing any of these streamers offer will change that.

I came to this after hearing Disney was going to discontinue physical media sales in Australian and New Zealand. I'm disappointed in them. When it comes to physical media, if there is a film or tv show I really love, I will gladly buy it on DVD or Blu-ray, or 4K. I pray for a time where Physical Media and Streaming can continue to coexist.

🎉can't wait till streaming is "dead" personally🎉

The reason they do it is because streaming = subscription model plus access to data. Subscription revenues are consistent and more attractive to investors.

Streaming was always a bewildering idea, at least for the consumer. Why willingly hand over what little control you had to the corporations? Streaming is just a new way to rent movies/shows.

I am all about owning discs physically. But on studios perspective physical disc sale numbers have dropped so much, so I understand that point of view also. I personally have very niche taste, but when I see mainstream movie titles (on blu-ray) in supermarkets on sale for 25 eur... I am pretty confused, who should actually buy those with that price?

Haven't even watched the video yet, but this has been my point. Investors want this future, and consumers be damned.

🤗well said

They'll come out with a new format soon I'm guessing to replace dvd, blu-ray and 4k. I'm guessing propitiatory SD cards or similar.

Streaming ongoing fees to basically rent and never owning anything it’s dead money

I just watched Tremors on 4k disc in the special features they mentioned it failed at the box office it vhs rentals and sales that made profit and it became a classic i don't think that would happened with streaming people would scroll pass it now it's fun franchise to see

with the ongoing writers strike I can't help but think that the reason the studios are pushing for streaming is so they won't have to pay the talent (writers, actors, etc) as much. I suspect they still have to pay them for physical copies sold.

Did you ever see "the Producer's"? "You can make more money with a.flop then with a hit"

Tax write offs aside, companies see Netflix streaming blowing up and think "That's our money & our product!". Remember these are the people who wanted DivX(one time watch DVDs, not the codex) and weren't happy with used DVD/CD shops. Streaming was sold as a constant revenue source with tighter control over their product. How well did classic/back catalog only streaming services work out? They didn't. Original programming was needed. There's also current ideology like environmentalists who are anti-plastic and would love to see physical media die. And for the more "conspiracy" minded, streaming delivers even more ability to constantly distract the masses, censor/alter content, collect personal data and deliver on the motto "You'll own nothing and be happy"

Surely everyone is losing out. The person who actually manufactures the discs, prints the sleeves and booklets. Also, the companies that build the machines to play them on.

I find it all very weird myself, but I think the most obvious answer is that studios are focused on the youth market (as they have been for decades), and the conventional wisdom is that young people don't want to own physical media. In my experience there's some truth to that - nearly all of the collectors I know or interact with are over 50, and that's regardless of income or other criteria - younger people are more used to just watching things on their phones or *maybe* tablets, not typically interested in extras or nice collectible packages, and used to streaming as the natural way to go. This, combined with the fact that only a smal portion of people of all ages have ever been interested in "old" stuff (when I worked at video stores, old meant that it had been on video for more than 2 weeks)... and you get a world where they only want to promote brand-new stuff, on streaming, and want to keep that exciting for people so they keep up their subscriptions. The rest just isn't worth it to them, so it seems.

I support physical media.

Physical media produces more jobs. Not just disc manufacturers but dvd/blu ray players manufacturing. This then needs printing manufactures, distributors, shops and interaction with people going out and browsing such material. Streaming is not the way. I have never bought into streaming and want to buy dvd's & blu rays. Sadly we've just lost Network UK, because of streaming???

Streaming is a good value, but it doesn't offer a lot of value for those of us who already have a physical collection built up. All I really need streaming for is if I want to binge watch a show and that's about it. I use Apple but only for renting things I can't get at my local library on Blu-ray.

Hope Disney realises it's a mistake they can make up some profits by keeping physical media when people skip cinema to watch at home...

I hope physical media never goes away

yes ....weird ....maybe i dont know !!

I say streaming is for those lazy people who don't value cinema as an art. They watch, get distracted 90% of the movie and have bad, very bad health habits.

Amazing how streaming services have gaslit people into thinking their services are better than owning the real thing.

the ONLY positive of streaming is more space in house. thats it.

good reason why I prefer to avoid streaming services

Then buy physical

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Adding all the unskippable fbi warnings and extraneous advertising has really turned me off of physical media

They need to kill off DVDs 4ks are too expensive to ever really take off 🚀

There is absolutely NO internet on the planet at residential homes where streaming can compete soundwise and definitely screenwise with a physical disc. Christ even a new, pristine VHS would be better than streaming. No streaming escapes the potential dreaded "black" areas that just become a black blob. Stop being so damn lazy. Get up and go change a disc.

The peak of DVD revenues were $16.3 billion and that was way back in '05, while revenues from streaming services in 2022 were $30.3 billion. Which out-paced even the most optimistic year-on-year forecasts for the sector. Physical media has its place. It isn't going anywhere. It also brings in a couple of billions a year. Now, let's stop talking about this nonsense. And talk about movies and television shows instead. They, ultimately, are what this channel should all be about.

streaming you dont onw these movies you pay to watch them