An In-Depth Analysis of the Advantages and Disadvantage of Streaming Platforms

The entertainment industry has changed drastically for us in recent years. A lot of credit should go to the Internet. The Internet has not only brought the world a lot closer but also paved the way for unconventional content to leak into the mainstream. The world is on the internet. Internet is something that has descended the socio-economic strata. Almost everyone has access to the Internet these days. The days of slow dial-up connections are long gone and forgotten. An average person has access to high powered and super-fast internet in today’s world. The inception of the fast internet has also coincided with the rise of streaming platforms, not surprisingly.

A majority of the populace is already on these streaming services and those who are not, definitely have a clear idea about what they entail. So, we will focus on the pros and cons of these platforms in detail.

• Pros of Streaming Platforms

First, let’s understand what is a streaming service?. It is any platform which delivers media content, be it movies or shows, over the Internet. The platform not only has an option to watch the piece of content on the network but also provide an option to download the piece of content to a local device. The streaming platform offers the customer a host of options to choose from at a really low price. The main advantage is the ease of installation and when we say ease, there are no problems at all. The customer just has to install the platform or access the website from a browser, log in and enjoy whatever they want to watch. Platforms such as Xcine provide their customer with a whole variety of options to binge-watch at their own leisure without any hassle that comes with the traditional modes of entertainment.

• Cons of Streaming Platforms

The only real criticism of the streaming platforms stems from the fact that developing nations still don’t have access to high-speed Internet as of yet. When there is a lack of proper and fast Internet, a person spends more time watching the buffering wheel rather than the actual content.

The debate of streaming vs traditional modes of entertainment is ongoing and has been polarising a lot of people. The cinema purists believe that these platforms are taking away people from the theatre as they are giving the customers entertainment at their homes. Sure, the accessibility is much higher in streaming platforms than the conventional modes of entertainment but the charm and mystique of watching a cinema at a theatre still hold as strong as ever.

For example, watching a movie by the Marvel Franchise or watching a movie by Christopher Nolan is no less than a grand spectacle and watching it in a dark theatre with equally excited people surrounding you is irreplaceable. A laptop or a screen could never replicate the experience. Both of these are not mutually exclusive events. Both of them can exist in together simultaneously. There are some forms of content that require the intimate setting of a room and individual viewing but on the other hand, there are pieces of content that demand a community experience and are a spectacle to be shared with people.

Therefore, comparing the two is doing injustice to both of them. Both of the forms of media distribution are extremely beneficial for people looking for entertainment. In the end, we can say that both of these forms of entertainment are indispensable and should not be put to a stop just because one of the other is pulling a larger crowd than the other. We are the luckiest generation to be born as we have so many options to keep us entertained. So, let’s sit back and enjoy all the ammenities we have at our disposal.