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I absolutely agree and would add the article seems to miss a crucial aspect "unbundling" which, for a lot of people, are spending less on "entertainment" a mont

I absolutely agree and would add the article seems to miss a crucial aspect "unbundling" which, for a lot of people, are spending less on "entertainment" a monthly basis. Netflix and Amazon haven't spun "unbundling" into reverse. If anything, they're contributing to the acceleration of the phenomena. I didn't sign up for Amazon Prime for the movies or the music. The value for my money was there just for 2 day shipping and would keep it for that reason alone, everything else is a perk. The article starts off with "No longer would anyone have to buy a $99-a-month triple-play package when all they wanted was the History Channel." And ends with, "the bundle is not a decaying symbol of legacy distribution. Rather, it is the new network effect: a critical strategy to amplify scale in the hope of building or deepening a moat to protect against foes everywhere." I guess business school elites, like the author, are having a hard time wrapping their minds around what is taking place. It is pretty simple for me; Consumers want more choice and want it for less money on a monthly basis. They are more realistic about how much time they can devote to watching and/or listening to content which reflects in the winners and losers of this space. Further, the proliferation of Android set top boxes, Fire sticks, Kodi boxes, Chromecasts, and Rokus together with youtube and other streaming/free content will continue to erode all of the above.

visarga 10y ago
People's interest in movies might take a backseat to interest in people-generated videos, and with good reason.
- fian 10y ago
  Absolutely. Over the last year an interest in woodworking has caused me to shift from almost 100% Streaming TV/Movies to maybe 40% Youtube and 60% TV/Movies (Netflix type services). Youtube recommendations occasionally put me onto a new content creator/creation group that adds to my regular viewing. Much of this is both educational (how-to videos) and entertaining. Finding something with the right mix of educational impact and entertainment value is, IMHO, far rarer. The rate of new (albeit shorter duration) content on Youtube seems to outpace the rate of content I want to watch from the TV/Movie streaming services.
  - verinus 10y ago
    Being interested in woodworking myself I wonder if you could recommend some resources? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!
    - spronkey 10y ago
      The craftsman: https://www.youtube.com/user/PaulSellersWoodwork https://www.youtube.com/user/PaulSellersWoodwork The engineer: https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel And the madman: https://www.youtube.com/user/stevinmarin https://www.youtube.com/user/stevinmarin
    - speg 10y ago
      In addition to Spronkey's list check out https://www.youtube.com/user/TheWoodWhisperer https://www.youtube.com/user/TheWoodWhisperer
    - coldpie 10y ago
      I'm into hand tool woodworking, and for YouTube specifically, I follow The Renaissance Woodworker, Rob Cosman, and Paul Sellers. I also wrote up a short article aimed at beginners like myself that points to other kinds of resources: http://www.smokingonabike.com/2017/01/01/hand-tools-for-a-newbie-woodworker/ http://www.smokingonabike.com/2017/01/01/hand-tools-for-a-ne...
    - verinus 10y ago
      Thanks to spronkey, speg and coldpie for your input! very interesting resources!
  - dageshi 10y ago
    It's amazing the diversity of good quality stuff on youtube. Want to watch someone wading through rivers with a metal detector looking for civil war bullets/shells? You can! https://www.youtube.com/user/aquachigger/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/aquachigger/videos Or how to survive in the Canadian wilderness https://www.youtube.com/user/josephallen19/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/josephallen19/videos Or get entirely too deep into Dark Souls lore https://www.youtube.com/user/VaatiVidya/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/VaatiVidya/videos
gpawl 10y ago
> The value for my money was there just for 2 day shipping and would keep it for that reason alone, everything else is a perk. If that were true for a large number of customers, the perk wouldn't exist. Amazon is the "Everything Store" and Prime is the "Everything program". It's clearly bundling Every part of it reinforces loyalty to Amazon in unrelated sectors, from books to electronics to music to movies to more.

visarga 10y ago

People's interest in movies might take a backseat to interest in people-generated videos, and with good reason.

fian 10y ago
Absolutely. Over the last year an interest in woodworking has caused me to shift from almost 100% Streaming TV/Movies to maybe 40% Youtube and 60% TV/Movies (Netflix type services). Youtube recommendations occasionally put me onto a new content creator/creation group that adds to my regular viewing. Much of this is both educational (how-to videos) and entertaining. Finding something with the right mix of educational impact and entertainment value is, IMHO, far rarer. The rate of new (albeit shorter duration) content on Youtube seems to outpace the rate of content I want to watch from the TV/Movie streaming services.
- verinus 10y ago
  Being interested in woodworking myself I wonder if you could recommend some resources? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!
  - spronkey 10y ago
    The craftsman: https://www.youtube.com/user/PaulSellersWoodwork https://www.youtube.com/user/PaulSellersWoodwork The engineer: https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel And the madman: https://www.youtube.com/user/stevinmarin https://www.youtube.com/user/stevinmarin
  - speg 10y ago
    In addition to Spronkey's list check out https://www.youtube.com/user/TheWoodWhisperer https://www.youtube.com/user/TheWoodWhisperer
  - coldpie 10y ago
    I'm into hand tool woodworking, and for YouTube specifically, I follow The Renaissance Woodworker, Rob Cosman, and Paul Sellers. I also wrote up a short article aimed at beginners like myself that points to other kinds of resources: http://www.smokingonabike.com/2017/01/01/hand-tools-for-a-newbie-woodworker/ http://www.smokingonabike.com/2017/01/01/hand-tools-for-a-ne...
  - verinus 10y ago
    Thanks to spronkey, speg and coldpie for your input! very interesting resources!
- dageshi 10y ago
  It's amazing the diversity of good quality stuff on youtube. Want to watch someone wading through rivers with a metal detector looking for civil war bullets/shells? You can! https://www.youtube.com/user/aquachigger/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/aquachigger/videos Or how to survive in the Canadian wilderness https://www.youtube.com/user/josephallen19/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/josephallen19/videos Or get entirely too deep into Dark Souls lore https://www.youtube.com/user/VaatiVidya/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/VaatiVidya/videos

gpawl 10y ago

> The value for my money was there just for 2 day shipping and would keep it for that reason alone, everything else is a perk. If that were true for a large number of customers, the perk wouldn't exist. Amazon is the "Everything Store" and Prime is the "Everything program". It's clearly bundling Every part of it reinforces loyalty to Amazon in unrelated sectors, from books to electronics to music to movies to more.