Total streaming engagement is up, but the demographics of streaming-exclusive viewers are getting more top-heavy. Here's why Hollywood needs to track the behavioral shifts behind streaming.
Streaming services are not being picked up by people under 34
(which is probably why Jack Manifold got that Netflix deal)
There is the biggest elephant in the room of enshitification and the rise of piracy again. Why pay for Netflix when Plex or even better jellyfin are available for free/a one time fee for hosting Plex? Why deal with ads and lower quality video when buying/building a NAS costs about the price of a years worth of the top tier steaming platforms and you can control what’s on there not be up to the whims of what the streaming service might have available from other production companies that haven’t set up their own streaming service yet? The fact that neither enshitification nor piracy was mentioned is telling.
To be fair you don’t even need to resort to piracy to get a better service, I’ve been buying up used DVD/BR boxsets with the money I used to put into streaming. For less than half the cost I get a version I can keep rather than rent.
Same for CDs, with 6 months of Spotify payments I’ve managed to buy 90% of what I was listening to and even managed to get some nice deluxe versions with extras like DVD documentaries about the band, etc.
When collecting physical media again is a better, cheaper option than streaming you know the companies have really fucked up.
Thanks-that link doesn’t seem to be working at the moment though.
The article here seems to be implying the demographic of streaming is changing.
I was curious if it younger people (I) are shifting how they access it through piracy (what you were suggesting); (ii) it’s more of a broader shift from shows to YouTube or other types of “modern” content
Or more likely both but I was interested how much of each factor.
In that link it talked about how 70%+ of millenials and 60 some odd % of Gen Z were pirating last year for at least some of their entertainment, with classic downloading, intercepting streaming from the streaming services for access directly (being the most popular for you get people) and some other forms of piracy.
There is the biggest elephant in the room of enshitification and the rise of piracy again. Why pay for Netflix when Plex or even better jellyfin are available for free/a one time fee for hosting Plex? Why deal with ads and lower quality video when buying/building a NAS costs about the price of a years worth of the top tier steaming platforms and you can control what’s on there not be up to the whims of what the streaming service might have available from other production companies that haven’t set up their own streaming service yet? The fact that neither enshitification nor piracy was mentioned is telling.
To be fair you don’t even need to resort to piracy to get a better service, I’ve been buying up used DVD/BR boxsets with the money I used to put into streaming. For less than half the cost I get a version I can keep rather than rent.
Same for CDs, with 6 months of Spotify payments I’ve managed to buy 90% of what I was listening to and even managed to get some nice deluxe versions with extras like DVD documentaries about the band, etc.
When collecting physical media again is a better, cheaper option than streaming you know the companies have really fucked up.
But is Plex that big with younger people in general?
Maybe, maybe not, but piracy is very much on the rise with all people but younger people in particular.
https://kourentzes.com/konstantinos/index.php/2025/07/06/the-new-age-of-piracy-why-poracy-is-on-the-rise/
Thanks-that link doesn’t seem to be working at the moment though.
The article here seems to be implying the demographic of streaming is changing.
I was curious if it younger people (I) are shifting how they access it through piracy (what you were suggesting); (ii) it’s more of a broader shift from shows to YouTube or other types of “modern” content
Or more likely both but I was interested how much of each factor.
In that link it talked about how 70%+ of millenials and 60 some odd % of Gen Z were pirating last year for at least some of their entertainment, with classic downloading, intercepting streaming from the streaming services for access directly (being the most popular for you get people) and some other forms of piracy.