A transmigration of spectators is taking place. A transhumance towards new shores, more suitable for their characteristics to the survival of a species, that of the consumer of films, programs and TV series, in continuous change.
It is the world that changes by moving on its axis. From TV to the web, where the swallows land this season.
An epochal change which has well-defined characteristics. The first is, so to speak, of a demographic nature: the web audience in Italy is above all young, over 40% of people who connect to the internet every day for at least two hours (a total of 22 million) fall into this age group. An audience that elides itself from the generalist television audience, which has fallen to 25 million people.
A change that can be explained by various factors. Some have to do with the quality of the content: for those who, like the younger ones, have fed on "Lost" or "Game of Thrones" or "Breaking Bad", just to mention the best known, it is frankly difficult to return to gulp down their ration of the top series of our generalist channels. Without going into merit and value, these are products that seem to come from different eras and which are structurally aimed at different audiences.
Then there is the quantity. An infinite theory of television products lives and proliferates on the web for all tastes, an endless database that can be accessed at any time to choose the program you prefer and enjoy it without interruption, without advertising and without set times from televisions.
The time of the web, in fact, is a time of its own, marked only by the needs and desires of the viewer and no longer anchored to the programming needs of the networks.
A time that opens the door to a different fruition model, which also questions the organization of living spaces which, in many families, revolve around the television room, the magic cauldron which, in generalist intentions, keeps stuck to itself big and small.
As always, the numbers testify to the trend, signaling the growth of the centrality of the web in our cultural universe. Behind the news, which remain in the lead, and radio news, the means of information most used by Italians are search engines, all news TV and Facebook.
The arrival of Netflix
In this context, the novelty that risks breaking the bank is inserted: the entry on the Italian market of the true streaming giant, that is Netflix, a company born in the late nineties as a DVD and video game rental service via the Internet and, since 2008, transformed into an online streaming service on demand, accessible by subscription, very successful, to then realize the latest evolution in the very last years, also turning into a content producer.
The date of the landing is today, Thursday 22 October, and there are already many, among the Italian aficionados of Binge-watching (the increasingly widespread practice of watching several consecutive episodes of the same series, in a real marathon, facilitated by the fact that Netflix publishes all the episodes of its series at once), counting the hours.
The launch of Netflix, in fact, potentially represents an earthquake, destined to change not only the habits of our consumers, but also to give some respite to a rather asphyxiated production system. In fact, the American group will also produce some Italian series over the next few years.
After all, it was Netflix's entry into the production field that changed the face of the company from a simple on-demand online streaming service to a player capable of dictating the course of the times. Following it, in the wake inaugurated with House of Cards, and continued with Orange is the new black, Lillehammer and the rebirth of Arrested Development, among others, there is also the giant Amazon.
The strength of Netflix, in addition to a now enormous economic power, is the huge database, made up of 70% American TV series which will be joined by local products, films, documentaries and one-man shows. But the company intends to carefully observe the habits and tastes of Italian spectators, to supply them with what they desire.
And the Italian operators?
The subscription price of Netflix (7,99 euros per month for the all-inclusive basic subscription, without HD and on a single device; 8,99 € for Full HD on two devices of your choice; 11,99 euros for content in 4K accessible from four different devices) has already produced a reaction in the main players of the sector in our country, namely Sky and Mediaset.
Both companies must have felt breathing down their necks, if it is true that they have significantly reduced their price lists: Sky has cut the cost of the Cinema package of the Online TV Box to 9,99 euros per month), while Mediaset has launched an offer for Infinity at 4,99 euros for 12 months.
Both Sky is Mediaset, in addition to rich on-demand catalogs, have live streaming services for their subscribers - SkyGo and Premium Play.
Rai, however, seems to have remained at a standstill, in the online arms race of Italian televisions, even if something moves: live streaming of broadcast programs is available on the Rai.tv website, as well as a rich archive of films and programs broadcast on the channels of the three Rai networks over the last few years. In terms of production, Rai is also active on the Ray site, where it publishes the web series produced.
They will also have a role in the dispute Vodafone and Tim, especially regarding the distribution of the service. Both telecom companies will offer bundled subscriptions and hardware tools for connecting to the TV.
After all, Tim has been active on the web on demand market for some time now with Timvision, a service that boasts 500 subscribers and around 6 titles in the catalogue.
