This month, the two leading companies in apple and Disney launched streaming media services, which means that the industry competition has entered a white hot stage. Industry insiders predict that in the short term, enterprises can obtain a large number of users through marketing strategies such as price war and hardware bundling. In the future, the production and development of original content will be the key to maintain competitiveness.

Enter the market and start a price war

Apple's streaming service, Apple TV +, was launched in more than 100 countries on November 1, and entered the market at a low price of $4.99 per month and one-year free use period for new device users. The streaming media services of Disney and many American telecom companies are about to go online, so the price war is inevitable.

Apple, which has always been on the high price line, adopts a low price strategy in the streaming media business, and the monthly fee of Apple TV + 4.99 USD is far lower than that of its peers. Apple also offers a free one-year subscription to new iPhone and iPad buyers, who will be able to view Apple's original video programs and some TV programs. Apple TV + is a "gift to users," chief executive Jack Cook said in public.

There are not a few traditional entertainment companies and telecom service providers that have entered the streaming media market at the same time as apple.

Disney will launch a streaming service on November 12, which will include popular works such as star wars and marvel superheroes, initially only in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands, and then expand to all over the world.

After Warner media, a carrier of at & T, takes back the copyright of popular album friends from Netflix, a streaming media service called HBO Max will also be launched in early 2020, which will be billed at $14.99 per month. The service is currently available only in the United States and is expected to be available in Latin America and Europe in 2020.

In the increasingly fierce competition of streaming media, price war has become the main "weapon" of new entrants.

NBC Universal, a subsidiary of Comcast, a cable operator in the US, plans to launch a free version of peacock streaming service, and its business income depends on advertising, foreign media reported, citing industry insiders.

If the news is true, peacock will become the first free streaming media service platform operated by large media companies. According to the source, the peacock streaming service with advertising will be open to all users for free, while the streaming service without advertising will be paid by users. Comcast users and other pay TV users will receive additional content.

Apple has also adopted a more aggressive low-cost strategy, with a monthly fee lower than Disney's $2, or even less than half of Netflix, the largest streaming media service provider. The monthly fee for Disney's streaming service, which will be launched on November 12, is $6.99, and Netflix's most popular program is $13 a month. In order to reduce the cost of user access, Disney makes its streaming media platform Disney + provide free services for Verizon Wireless subscribers for one year, and then charges a basic fee of $6.99 per month.

Scale of Apple hardware users

The size of Apple's streaming media users depends largely on its huge hardware users. Because of this, the market is optimistic about its prospects, which has pushed its stock price to a new high in recent years.

Apple's share price rose to 2.84% to $255 on the first day, the eighth time in recent months that it has rewritten its closing high, with a market value of $1.13 trillion. In addition to the market's positive outlook on iPhone demand, it also shows expectations for its streaming service, Apple TV +. Apple shares fell to a 21 month low on January 3, but have since risen 78%.

Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, agrees with Apple TV+'s expected performance. Analysts have raised the target price of Apple by 17%, rising from $247 to $289, according to FactSet, which is the highest target price among 33 Apple tracking analysts.

Even after the free subscription expires, only a small number of people renew the subscription, but still optimistic about the growth of Apple TV +, "because the monthly fee of $4.99 is attractive, and apple can build a large number of initial subscribers based on the existing installation foundation and the strategy of free one year, we estimate that Apple TV + will become a business with a revenue of $9 billion by the end of fiscal year 2025, pay The number of paid subscribers is 136 million, which is based on the estimate that only one in 10 Apple users will pay to subscribe to the service before fy2025. "

Sarkozy, an analyst at Bernstein, a research firm, said Apple's 12-month gift of Apple TV + to new buyers of iPhones, iPads and Macs was a coup that could allow apple to accumulate millions or tens of millions of paying users by the end of 2020 or early 2021.

At present, various streaming media service providers are competing for users. HBO Max streaming media service plans to attract 50 million subscribers in the United States by 2025, and it is expected to accumulate more than 75 million to 90 million subscribers in the United States, Latin America and Europe.

At present, although the number of users of Netflix, which is in the leading position in the streaming media market, decreased in the second quarter in the United States, it relied on the launch of blockbuster dramas in the third quarter. In the current quarter, the number of global paid users increased by 6.77 million, reaching 158.3 million users in total.

Competition in the second half

With the increasing number of streaming media entrants, the ability of original works and talent reserve will be the key to maintain long-term competitiveness after the service providers win customers through promotion in the short term.

Apple has publicly said it will invest heavily in content and promised "a big lineup of original programs, films and documentaries.". However, the industry has criticized its original works, the United States