THE UBER PHENOMENON IN CONTENT

Both Streaming and Ubering/Olaing were designed to improve the user experience. But they were so revolutionary that they ended up changing consumer behaviour, and everyone wanted to get in on it.

- DEVKI PANDE

Until a few years ago, I didn't even consider buying a car, and now, it's all I think about every time I open a taxi app. And with content - it is almost impossible to find something good to watch, to the point that I watch reruns or old shows. The market of both taxis and content has expanded so much that there is an oversaturation in both industries. And this oversaturation has actually led to a reversal in consumer behaviour. It's interesting because a couple of years ago, the start-ups that were doing the best were the ones who didn't create new products but organised them to improve user experience - like Alibaba/Uber/Ola/ Netflix. Uber was marketed as a taxi app that didn't own any cars, and streaming platforms were movie apps that didn't own any of the content on them. But now that both the streaming platforms and Uber/Ola are operating at scale, consumer behaviour has also changed.

The difference is that in the content industry, there is a generic oversupply, not necessarily specific, and in the cab industry, there is an overdemand. But what's interesting is how this oversaturation on either end has resulted in consumers replicating old behaviour in a new media landscape. With content, it means torrenting and piracy and cable, and with Uber, it means people are looking to purchase cars again or looking at alternatives around instant booking or collaborative solutions. In streaming, the plethora of platforms offering subscriptions have conjured it into a new age Tata Sky, with similar discussions around the movies and the tv shows available on each platform.