Tag: Netflix

Broadcasters back on top in fragmented market

One of the pre-requisites of déjà vu is that you knew what happened in the first place.

I have a feeling that the people flooding the New Zealand marketplace with streaming platforms offering boundless content are blissfully unaware of what happened to radio in New Zealand in the 1990s.

In 1989 the local radio market was deregulated and the number of stations rocketed. In 1984 there had been 22 stations but by 1999 the number had reached almost 300. Something had to give, and it did. Rapacious networks began swallowing up stations and the market rapidly became consolidated again.

I feel we are at the 1999 stage with streaming platforms, although the numbers are nowhere near as high as in the heyday of independent radio. Nonetheless we have gone from one dominant operator (Sky TV) to an array of separate operators, each offering the world of your dreams…for a price. There are at least 15 video streaming platforms in addition to Sky’s offering and the on demand services of TVNZ+, Three Now and Māori+.

The top seven, according to NZ on Air’s Where Are The Audiences? 2026 report, are Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Neon, Skysport Now, Apple TV+, and CrunchyRoll (no, I hadn’t heard of it either because I’m not a fan of anime). Then there are nine ‘others’, including Hulu, Acorn, Stan and F1TV (for keen motorsport enthusiasts).

Th NZ on Air/Varian audience research was released last week. You can access it here.   It suggests, to me at least, that we may be at the proliferation zenith and are starting to see changes that could lead to some consolidation of the market. Continue reading “Broadcasters back on top in fragmented market” →

Battle for media thrones: Coming ready or not

Our media are no strangers to doing battle and 2026 is looming as a cross between Game of Thrones and Adolescence.

The GOT analogy is easy: It relates to territory, treasure that is real or imagined, and a touch of fantasy.

Our mainstream media will continue to wage the ongoing war for whatever territory in Westeros (or is it Essos) they can get their hands on. They will send raiding parties to snap up what remains after the Iron Throne of the Seven (transnational) Kingdoms has plundered the treasure house. And, symptomatic of the paranoia borne of years of attrition, they will scan the skies for signs of dragons.

The battle plans for territorial gain have been progressively revealed over past weeks and will be primarily fought out in the once-glittering realms of audio and video.

RNZ has signalled that it will deploy new forces in the fiercely contested territory of breakfast radio. This is a strangely undeclared war: Although the state-owned broadcaster is desperate to reclaim the crown from NewstalkZB’s Mike Hosking, it maintains a fiction that they cannot be directly compared. Yes, one is commercial and the other is not. Yes, they have separate rating surveys. However, at the end of the day their conflict is simple: they are both fighting for as many sets of ears as they can get. Continue reading “Battle for media thrones: Coming ready or not” →

TVNZ’s digital war calls for urgent reinforcements

Like it or not, the Government must step up and help Television New Zealand compete in the fight for its life.

The state-owned broadcaster is in what military strategists would call a perilous situation: With weakened supply lines, it is facing enemies on both flanks and a pincer movement that could squeeze the life out of it.

On one flank it has Sky TV, which last week pulled off a brilliant tactical move in which it was effectively gifted the valuable brand equity that continues to reside in Three despite its financial woes.

On the other flank are streaming services which – in spite of fighting their own battle royal – take increasing numbers of viewers from traditional providers.

The pincer movement could place TVNZ in an existential crisis within an alarmingly short period of time Continue reading “TVNZ’s digital war calls for urgent reinforcements” →