Major projects continue to appear on online streaming services

The keywords for online streaming are "original" and "sense of scale."

In mid-2017, while reviewing streaming service rankings for a presentation, I noticed a shift: services that had previously relied almost entirely on past TV broadcasts and foreign dramas were gradually becoming dominated by "original content." Amazon Prime Video exemplifies this trend. Beyond simply being "original," a noticeable expansion in scale – content that visibly appears "expensive to produce" – also stands out as a key change in content types.

VOD services, whether paid or free, tend to accumulate viewership over relatively long periods. While they can reach hundreds of thousands, millions, or even billions of views, AbemaTV's "live streaming" format achieving tens of millions of viewers demonstrates new potential. The 1st anniversary event "Beat Koki Kameda and Win 10 Million Yen" and November's "Inagaki, Kusanagi, Katori: The Three of Us Start Internet Broadcasting '72-Hour Honne TV'" reportedly garnered tens of millions of views within their broadcast times.

While many differences remain between broadcast and streaming—such as production frequency and how viewing time is utilized—the barriers regarding the prominence of performers and budget scales seem to have shifted considerably. This past year likely marked another step forward in the mutual integration between paid and free content, on-demand and live streaming formats, and broadcast and streaming platforms.

Local Station Branding in the Digital Age

Given the media environment shift toward smartphones, TV stations' engagement with "streaming" seems unavoidable. However, the "weight" placed on paid streaming services versus ad-supported services varies by station. Considering the actively debated "simulcast streaming" (streaming the same content online as broadcast), local stations face numerous challenges—whether moving toward streaming or keeping their distance—due to factors like network influence and their own financial strength.

Nevertheless, challenges in this domain continue, as seen in Kansai stations joining TVer and Chukyo TV launching its own online video streaming service "Chuun" in 2016.

While distinct from streaming, Oita Asahi Broadcasting is known as the first terrestrial commercial broadcaster to establish an end-to-end 4K production system, positioning it as the station with the largest 4K content library. This represents one potential branding angle for local stations.

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This article is edited based on the VR Digest published by Video Research Ltd. in December 2017.