This is Why 2021 Will Be the Year of Streaming

We currently live in the age of information and media consumption. More so than any other time in the history of human existence, information is as accessible as ever. This means that many content creators and media producers are scrambling to fill that growing demand for quality media in an increasingly competitive space. One such form of media production and consumption that is growing in popularity is streaming. Whether it be through Twitch gaming streams, movie streams on Netflix, or casino games from live dealer casinos, streaming is really starting to pick up as a form of content. So, it begs to ask the question: what is streaming going to look like in the year 2021 and onward? That’s something that we’re going to try to figure out here together. Spoiler alert: the future looks bright.

What is Streaming?

Streaming is a method of media consumption that is down over the internet without the actual downloading of media files. It’s a continuous transmission of mostly audio or video files straight from a server directly to a user. Common examples of streaming media include YouTube videos, podcasts, or Twitch streams. The main difference between streaming and traditional downloading is that you don’t have to wait for the entire file to be downloaded for you to begin playback and consumption. You can actually start listening to podcasts and watching videos even if you don’t have the entire file saved locally to your computer.

Streaming is an advantageous form of content consumption for two reasons. For one, it’s faster. Again, you don’t have to wait for a file to be completely downloaded before you can start enjoying it. If you want to watch a movie on Netflix, you can just press play and the video will automatically start streaming and playing at the same time. Another reason is that it doesn’t require any hard disk space on your part. You won’t have to worry about allocating space on your local disk drive for media files because none of it is saved locally. It’s all just stored within a server that you can access anytime you want.

It’s because of the sheer convenience and accessibility of this kind of media consumption that is resulting in the rising popularity of streaming in general. Again, it doesn’t matter if it’s videos from a live casino or if it’s an audio file over Spotify. This is the way that people are choosing to consume their content now and it doesn’t look like anyone is going to deviate from that trend anytime soon.

What are the Most Popular Streaming Platforms?

Ultimately, all the major players in online content provide some kind of streaming service. In the world of audio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, and Soundcloud continue to dominate the game. When it comes to video, you have the usual suspects like YouTube (the world’s second most popular search engine), Netflix, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime Video. The popularity of these video streaming sites surged substantially over the course of the pandemic. In lieu of traditional theatrical releases, many movie production companies decided to release their blockbusters straight on these streaming platforms. There were some hits and some misses, but that isn’t a knock on streaming itself. Recently, Zack Synder’s Justice League found enormous success when it premiered exclusively on HBO Max.

Then you also have streaming services like NBA League Pass that have a substantial following. The NBA hasn’t been opening their doors to large crowds for live games in the physical arenas just yet. But because of the accessibility of League Pass, basketball fans still get to enjoy their favorite teams and players in real time through streaming.

Swimming Upstream

Again, the world of content creation is becoming a very competitive and oversaturated space. All over the world, people are granted the tools and platforms to express themselves freely and publish whatever content they want to create. But it shouldn’t really be a doubt to anyone’s mind that streaming is something that is here to stay. As the world of media consumption and content creation becomes more difficult to navigate, the art of streaming is still very much going to dominate. Especially with behemoths like Netflix, YouTube, and Twitch at the helm, it’s hard to find any reason why that isn’t going to be the case.