Tapping open your favourite app and loading up your favourite content creators stream has become as ordinary as turning on the television – whilst static video through platforms like YouTube still remains very popular, there has been a huge growth in support for livestreamers particularly over the past year as they have been able to provide valuable and entertaining content at a time it was needed most.
There has been a huge success for many different sporting events too where traditional options had been cancelled, as platforms such as iRacing were able to benefit despite the difficulties, and the growth of other games that have been growing over the past few years largely due to the benefits offered from livestreaming, and the growing number of supporting sites through activities such as betting where here you can find some at esportsbetting.site that have offered just as much success too. It does raise the question, however, of whether or not livestreaming can replace more traditional forms of media, particularly as there is already some suggestions that it could be on the way.
(Image from pandaily.com)
Recent announcements in video-on-demand streaming services suggest that movies in particular may be experiencing part of this shift – Disney have been reinforcing their own focus on the streaming platform suggesting that many big releases moving forward would be for Disney+, and the similar announcement from Warner Bros that HBO GO will house their full roster of 2021 releases does the same – not to mention that Netflix have committed to releasing a new movie every week in 2021 for a total of 71 new releases.
To some, it may sound as if live events on television may already fill this role, or video on demand is the same, but there are differences to be found as livestreaming typically enables other features such as livechat to bring a social aspect to the broadcast too, and with the growth of platforms such as Twitch over the past year and the investment from Google into its own streaming service through YouTube, it could appear that this change is closer than some may suspect. The logistics are obviously quite difficult, but as attitudes are already changing to favour online services, the next logical step would be for livestreaming to take the place of some older systems, much in the way that video-on-demand is starting to replace both cinema and regular releases through video and DVD for example. It’s an exciting opportunity moving forward, and certainly offers big change to come.
