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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1420529
in seats to make a profit. It’s been that way ever since Alice Guy-Blaché directed her first film in the late 19th century. The M&E industry changed when TVs entered the home but there was an uneasy truce until streaming video slowly began to change the entertainment landscape. People quickly realized they had a new entertainment option beyond the rising bundle cost, day/time TV appointments and growing crap load of ads – 20-minute blocks out of every hour of entertainment. Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu became so popular that today they account for 60 percent of the U.S. streaming. Success like that is too good to be ignored so, every media organization determined streaming was tailor made for them. To stay ahead of the hungry pack, the three switched from licensing content to creating new, different stuff – actually studios said they wanted their content back so they could recycle it and be more competitive. In addition, they – and some of the “new” competitors figured they should reach beyond the world’s biggest entertainment market (the U.S. which now has an estimated 300 streaming services) and sign-up viewers globally. Of course, the Middle Kingdom (with the largest population) carefully isolates its viewers while India (second largest population) is willing to let its folks experience all of the world’s entertainment … within reason. India – and 190 other countries – wanted something in return. To slightly support the 1,000 + local streaming services and give their video creative industry a lift, streamers had to produce 30-40 percent of their content in country. That probably wasn’t much of a strain because the leading services today are: • Netflix with about 220M subscribers in 190+ countries • Amazon Prime Video 200M+ subscribers in 190 countries • Tencent 130M users in 10 SEA (Southeast Asia) countries • IQIYI 120M users in 10 SEA countries • Disney + 100M+ subscribers in 40+ countries • Youku 90M users in 10 SEA countries • Disney Hotstar 26M+ subscribers It didn’t take Televisa and Univision long to determine they were better together in the new content arena and they merged to become the world’s largest Spanish language content development/production organization as well as a linear/streaming video entertainment organization. After all, Spanish is the fourth most widely spoken language (23 countries) in the world behind English, Mandarin and Hindi. Netflix invested $200M+ for content in Mexico last year. Disney is planning 70 originals in the region, Warner is planning