Video Entertainment is Global, Local

Video Entertainment is Global, Local

Andy Marken August 27, 2024

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There are places out there you can't find on any map. They're not gone, they're just lost. - Nate, Uncharted, Columbia Pictures, 2022

Folks, just because Hollywood sneezes, the film/TV show industry doesn't have a cold.

Sure, the production of content for the big and small screen is off here in the US; but for all the right and wrong reasons, the industry did it to itself. Since the completion of the first Hollywood sign in 1923, the US (more specifically, California; and more specifically yet, LA) has nurtured the idea that the entertainment industry revolves around us.

The industry started in New Jersey but relocating to Southern California was really a no-brainer - climate and try/fail/try again mindset (personal opinion). Slowly, it moved back across the country, so we have creative production locations spread across the nation.

Today, the US film/show industry produces, and more importantly consumes, about 40 percent of the entertainment fare.

So, when the dual creative strikes shut down productions around the country, it was somewhat logical that a lot of the television and movie folks would say the global industry is in a slump and it will take a year plus to recover and get back to a new normal.

But the industry has changed (advanced) a lot since 1923.

Here in the US, creative centers have cropped up around the country - New York, New Jersey (yes, it's back), Atlanta, Seattle, Austin, Phoenix, everywhere - and they're offering awesome incentives/tax subsidies to attract content production in their areas as opposed to the rather high costs of producing in LA.

At the same time, Canada started to build out their content creation centers in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, highlighting their production-friendly features - trained, skilled technicians and support folks who mostly shared the same language.

Shows and movies moved almost seamlessly across the border, and it became the North American entertainment market.

While the US declared its independence from England in 1776 and Canada became a co-equal in 1785, the three still shared a slightly similar language, so video story production there for local consumption here was easy, especially since Britain offered advanced production facilities and incentives. That's the way the content industry pretty much stayed for years with English-speaking content created in relatively close English-speaking countries.

Back in college, we got hooked on foreign films - French, German, Asian, you name it - but we had to go to a local art theater to enjoy them.

The theaters only showed the cr me de la cr me of content because it was hard - and expensive - to translate the dialogue which streamed along the bottom three inches of the screen.

Sure, the words - when they were translated didn't match the lip movement or action but still, the films were awesome.

But life and priorities change things.

With all the stuff on TV just a remote click away, it was easy to think that the video content industry began and ended with American English shows/movies.

But in 2007, Netflix, followed shortly by Amazon Prime, changed that.

Streaming Sweeps - Households in the Americas quickly embraced the idea of streaming shows/movies they wanted to see without advertising as they turned from broadcast networks and cable pay TV bundles.

It didn't take long for the former DVD shipper (they mailed out their last disc - True Grit - September 29, 2023) and global etailer to persuade American households that watching what you want, when you want and on the screen you want - all without ad interruptions - was great entertainment.

While studios - and networks - initially thought the two had lost their collective minds, they stuck with their theatrical and TV schedules until people in the two countries began abandoning their TV stations and expensive pay TV bundles for the streaming convenience, quality and lack of 20 minutes of ads for each viewing hour.

In no time (O.K., 3-5 years) every studio and even broadcast networks offered a streaming service to the point where Deloitte reported that 88 percent of the households had at least one streaming service.

A Forbes study last year found that the average household now has 2.8 streaming subscriptions.

But even before the two fledgling streaming services had a significant number of streaming subscriptions in the Americas, they set their eyes on reaching the global market - 1.72B TV households.

Global Content - Economic content streaming put good/great content on people's TV screens and on the mobile devices in emerging countries.

Regardless of the screen size or age of the screen, people around the globe wanted good/great entertainment.

And while some people don't have a TV set, virtually everyone - 5.4B of the 8.1B people on the planet - have access to internet-streamed content.

Connected - It's perhaps overstating things, but almost everyone who wants to be connected to the world around them has internet access for their TV, computer, smartphone or device.

More than 63 percent of the world's population has internet connectivity and one or more portable/mobile device.

Looking at all streaming content arena original, sports, and library TV and movies Ampere expects overall personal/home entertainment market to be about $46B this year and the video content reach covers 92.7 percent of the globe.

Now that sounds like a big deal - and it is - but as an interesting sidebar, it's worth considerably less than the gaming industry, which should top $145B this year and revenue is expected to reach $312B by 2027.

With the top 10 streaming services headquartered in the Americas, that $46B looks attractive to California/LA officials as well as Hollywood pr

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