Streaming Wars: Will Older Powers Retain Their Edge?

The battle has begun and YouTube has fired the first salvo. On Dec 5, Alphabet Inc.'s GOOGL Google announced it was removing support for its YouTube app on Amazon.com, Inc.'s AMZN Fire TV. The search engine giant cited a number of reasons for this drastic move.

Firstly, Amazon has for long refused to sell Chromecast and recently removed Nest products from its website. Further, Amazon has failed to make Prime Video available on any of Google's streaming devices.

But this was only the beginning of a tale which has likely yet to run its course. On Dec 6, Apple Inc. AAPL made the Prime Video app available on its Apple TV devices. The launch of this app clears the way of the resumption of Apple TV sales on Amazon's website. This little example alone is sufficient to illustrate the level of competition prevailing in the streaming services arena.

According to market research firm Park Associates, nearly a third of households in the United States now subscribe to several over the top streaming services. With more than 200 OTT video services available within the country, competition is only going to get fiercer. And feeling the heat will be the incumbents of this once small business segment.  

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