Leadership Failure In The Streaming Industry

What is the role of a Leader?

Technically it depends on your definition of "Leader" of course, so let's agree on a type of "Leadership" for the course of this article.

I tend to lean toward "Legendary Leadership".

Within this type of Leadership, one important aspect for this article is that others Excel around us as Leaders.

This would include both those on our team as well as our customers.

This is true in most forms of Leadership, of course, but in defining we can come to a similar understanding.

At the end of the day, our customers really define how well we are really doing as an organization or industry.

If our customers Excel because of our services or products, then we generally will do well as a business.

However, it becomes problematic when our clients' lives are negatively impacted due to our products or services.

This is where the Streaming industry currently finds its clients.

The Statistics

There have been many challenges that the Streaming industry has been facing as of late.

There have been problems with Churn Rates abound.

The industry has also had issues with password sharing across long distances.

There is a much longer list of problems that Streaming is attempting to combat.

But why do these issues exist?

These are some of the most well-known companies with the largest collections of media, yet they still seem to be missing the mark with the clients.

Why is this?

When you look at some of the statistics coming out from the industry, we begin to see a clearer picture.

• 69% Of People Agree There Are Too Many Streaming Services
• 65% Worry Their Favorite Service Will Remove Their Favorite Content
• 58% Feel Overwhelmed By The Amount Of Content

What you see here is a list of emotions that are circulating within the industry.

They are showing us that the Streaming Industry's customers are not Excelling.

Further Implications

From the customer's perspective, there are 2 major issues.

• Overwhelm With Selections
• Fear From Loss Of Content

When you understand these two issues, you can further see that all of the tactics that the Streaming Industry are attempting to utilize to "win" customers are actually working against them.

• Create Many New Original Series To Attract Customers
• Deciding On "Success" Quickly (Otherwise Quickly Funding New Content And Killing The Series If Not Succeeding Quickly)
• Purging Content Without High Enough Viewership
• Selling Old Content Or "Failing" Content

There is an unspoken agreement that is a part of the Streaming Industry - Customers are willing to pay a continuous subscription in order to maintain the library they would have traditionally bought and stored at home.

Instead of getting this though, customers are getting something different.

They are getting more content than they can feasibly watch through.

The content is being judged before word of the show is able to spread and catch on (some estimates say that most "hits" aren't really determined until 2-3 seasons into it).

If it isn't getting the viewership required by the companies, they become sold to a different service or simply disappear without any traces.

This forces viewers to attempt to catch media quickly (which is becoming more difficult due to overflow), attempt to build support for their favorites as quickly (which can also be difficult, especially for things that aren't "mainstream" but are popular in their circles), and then either completely lose access (at worse) or jump around different services (at best) if their favorites get sold.

When you have all of these challenges, mixed with the fact that we are in an economy where most people are struggling, it is no wonder these services are having the struggles they have.

These companies aren't focused on the struggles of their customers.

Every business decision they are making is leading to their customers struggling more and more.

This Fear and Overwhelm that is caused by these decisions will continue to cause issues for these Streaming Services.

Now, these companies are currently doing well "overall" because they have created the current "norms".

However, these norms will only keep them above the water as long as a new service or industry doesn't come along and fix these challenges.

Just as "BlockBuster" and "Satelite TV" used to hold the "norms" of the industry until "Netflix" solved some of the challenges of those industries, so too could these Streaming Services lose if solutions are created to the current problems that exist.

If another company were able to release the Fear and Overwhelm the customers are facing, they would immediately leave the companies they currently sit with.

Final Takeaway

Leaders arise in the face of the challenges people face.

They gain the right to remain a Leader as long as those they serve continue to Excel.

If those they serve begin to struggle, the people will begin to undermine and work against the desires of the Leader.

When people are feeling Fear and Overwhelmed, they literally become unable to Excel - it's a Physicological fact.

The MORE that Leaders cause challenges for those around them, the MORE problems will occur.