Increasing fragmentation in streaming is the trend no viewer wants

FOR those who dream of having everything they could possibly want to watch under one $10 umbrella, we’ve got some bad news for you.

FOR those who want everything they could possibly want to watch under one $10 umbrella, we’ve got some bad news for you.

Yet another streaming service has launched in Australia, signalling the increasing fragmentation of streaming and dashing any hopes that paying one subscription a month is going to be enough for the most voracious of viewers.

Love Nature is another niche service that has launched in Australia. As its name implies, it specialises in nature and wildlife documentaries. The service is from Blue Ant Media and Smithsonian Networks and costs $4.99 a month after the initial free one-month trial.

Love Nature claims to have the “world’s largest library” of 4K wildlife and nature docos and says a percentage of each subscription fee will be given to conservation projects including the Jane Goodall Institute. It also has a content partnership with WWF International.

Happily, Love Nature is available across a range of platforms at launch including iOS and Android apps which is compatible with Chromecast. It’s also on Xbox One, Nexus, Apple TV and a limited selection of smart TVs. You can download content on the mobile apps to watch offline, similar to functionality recently introduced by Netflix and Stan.

Nothing against Love Nature itself — it sounds great — and it’s actually launching with more than some its better-resourced rivals did in the past. For the most obsessive of nature enthusiasts, the service is a great option for their dedicated viewing needs, and cheaper than paying for similar channels through Foxtel* or Fetch.

But it does cement a market trend many streamers are greeting with apprehension.

In the past two years and change, Australians have been bombarded with myriad streaming services, led by American giant Netflix (from $8.99). Aussie player Stan ($10) is the next biggest in terms of content and profile while Amazon recently launched Prime Video ($8) and Foxtel revamped its Play service (from $10) after pulling the plug on Presto.

Awww. Snow leopards. How can you resist?

Then you have Hayu ($6), a reality TV platform for all your Kardashian and Vanderpump needs, and YouTube Red ($12) just kicked off.

Plus there are the likes of BigPond Movies, Dendy Direct and OzFlix who sell or rent movies and TV shows on a per item basis. And the beleaguered Quickflix is sputtering on its last breath somewhere out there.

Oh, and there’s still iTunes, Google Play and various online stores from Fetch, Xbox, PlayStation and more. And sports franchises who have their own channels and subscriptions.

Yeah, it’s exhausting.

If you actually signed up to all the subscription services’ bare minimum packages, you’re looking at $60 a month. Lord help your budget if you’re also a geo-dodger and paying for American services such as Hulu, CBS All-Access, HBO Now, Showtime or FilmStruck.

Watching everything you could possibly want is an expensive endeavour, not to mention a huge time-suck.

Netflix is increasingly moving to original content such as its new teen drama 13 Reasons Why.

And there’s nothing in the stars to suggest any consolidation of these services to create some kind of Spotify-esque catch-all for TV and film.

There will only be further fragmentation as the digital rights to shows are sold to different companies. The likes of Netflix, and to a lesser extent Amazon, have increasingly allowed rights to lapse, shifting its focus to original content which it can control the rights to in every market.

So, for the foreseeable future, be prepared to pay more and more for the TV and film you want to watch.

Continue the conversation on Twitter with @wenleima.

*News Corp, publisher of this website, owns 50 per cent of Foxtel.

Originally published as Increasing fragmentation in streaming is the trend no viewer wants