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Imagine this: you just got home after a day of exhausting lessons, gathered in winter equipment and that you travel the snowy sidewalks. You mentally juggle with dinner plans, unfinished missions and 8 am courses in the morning tomorrow. But as soon as you open the door, all these plans come out of the window – you must relax.
You settle in to watch Netflix, maybe “American Manhunt: OJ Simpson: Season 1”, hoping for a mixture of distraction and intrigue. In a few minutes, you are addicted – until a odiously noisy and non -relevant advertising breaks mood.
Does that seem familiar? The advertisements permeate streaming platforms, disturbing the sanctuaries once on which we relied for an escape. Worse, switching services seem futile – each platform does it. There is no exhaust for this new reality.
But that made me think that streaming services do not only add advertisements. They develop in new genres of content, gamification features and unexploited markets in an incessant battle for subscriptions. Streaming wars are playing how we consume entertainment, with deep implications for consumer behavior, advertising and the future of digital media.
Here is what I found:
According to a digital trend article Updated in January, the three most popular streaming services (based on the number of subscribers) are Netflix at 282.7 million, Amazon Prime Video with more than 200 million and Disney + with 153.6 million members.
A marketing dive article said that Netflix managers have priority to new internal advertising technology in 2025. This is the result of the company’s surpassing to exceed its advertising revenue objectives for the end of the year, Gregory Peters said , Co-PDG of Netflix, in the article.
In his fourth quarter report, Netflix said he had obtained 19 million new subscribers during the quarter. The article attributes live sporting content, such as the boxing match Mike Tyson against Jake Paul in November 2024 and the NFL games at Christmas, as attractive content encouraging new memberships.
Mike Seiman, CEO and founder of Digital Remedy, said in the article that the emphasis on live sports is a precious opportunity to interact with a specific audience and will help position Netflix in the digital advertising space in 2025.
Amazon Prime Video also makes a similar executive strategy. In 2024, Prime started displaying ads for all users. According to a Hollywood journalist article Published last October, the company made more than $ 1.8 billion in initial commitments last year and will not develop this year.
A spokesperson for Amazon said in the article that Prime predicted to assess the advertising volume to satisfy customers while following the competition. The article indicates the capacity of “Thursday evening football” to collect a crowd – 15 million viewers per game – and how Amazon now has more than 50 new brands for sponsors “Thursday evening football”, in particular Verizon, Subway and State Farm .
But in addition to that, Prime Video is about to add NBA content and interactive advertisements to also connect users to its retail space.
Disney + is a similar advertising story: according to an adwek articleThe new terms implemented for new subscribers on January 27. Existing subscribers will see advertisements from March 24.
Again, we see a push for live content, in particular ESPN +, which has more than 30,000 live sporting events annual, including the MLB and the WNBA. Given that the programming takes place in real time, Adweek said that the “advertising” services before would put content breaks to match the program’s calendar.
So what does all this mean? What to have to become our frenzy and comfort shows?
Streaming wars do not slow down anytime soon, and the future could become even more chaotic. Platforms will probably adopt interactive features – think of gamified emissions or choose your history formats – to make us look longer. Meanwhile, as advertising fatigue and subscription overload settle down, we could see smaller streaming services appear, addressing niche interests and promising less interruption for those who wish to pay a supplement. On the other hand, some platforms could double entertainment with purchases, such as the Amazon Prime Video plans to link advertisements directly to its retail empire. Everything indicates a future where streaming is not only to look at – it is a question of engaging at all costs.
He is sure to say that streaming wars will continue. For ordinary users, this change strangely resembles cable television with additional steps: announcements interrupting critical moments, too many options evoking decision paralysis or excessive subscriptions and dissatisfaction to pay more for less noise . While we return to condemnation and life between advertising breaks, it is clear: whatever the updates, all platforms gain to some extent. Consumers lose autonomy in their content experience while streaming services and their sponsors continue to create new brand associations and income sources through advertising campaigns and gamification.
Netflix is about to introduce another golden age of hacking.
Meghana Rachamadugu (she / she) is a senior student marketing and commercial analysis and the pursuit of a minor in French.