“Next year is a race to aggregate consumers,”
said Kevin Westcott, who heads Deloitte’s U.S.
telecommunication, media and entertainment
consulting business. “The first war is getting
them to sign up for a service. The second war is
retaining them.”
The new services have to attract users with
marketing blitzes and the promise of original
shows and movies, then build a big enough
library of old favorites to help keep them. Already,
HBO Max will have “Friends ” exclusively, and
Disney is taking back its older movies from Netflix.
A lot of shows and movies won’t be available at
launch, but will be added over time. Free helps
in the meantime.