The Rise of Lost Media
Streaming services have made it very convenient to watch thousands of shows and movies from your own home, for only a fixed cost each month, saving subscribers both money and space. They are so popular that the average UK household spends £25 to £50 per month on streaming platforms. However, they have caused a significant decrease in physical media, one that threatens to leave titles unwatchable if they are removed from the service that carries them.
This phenomenon is called ‘lost media’, where a show or movie is no longer available to watch on any platform, leaving it unable to be viewed. While streaming services can preserve media that would otherwise leave circulation sooner, the nature of fixed-term contracts and view-count based decisions on which titles will be retained means that, for the majority of content, a lack of consistent profit results in deletion. This is particularly an issue for original productions, that can only be found on, and are owned by, one streaming service.
Netflix is one such streaming service that produces many original shows and movies, and is the most popular provider in the UK, with 17.3 million subscriptions in 2024, followed closely by Prime Video and Disney+. In January 2025 alone, Netflix removed more than 200 titles found on its platform, including originals such as ‘Hemlock Grove’ and popular films such as ‘Mamma Mia!’. Furthermore, it is not the only provider known to make similar cuts. In October 2022, HBO deleted 20 in-house productions.
The main protection for streaming content to be conserved is physical media, such as DVDs, though these are not available for original titles. However, the cost of subscribing to streaming services, and their convenience, deter consumers from spending extra on physical media, especially when it is a copy of a title licensed by a provider they subscribe to. In the first half of 2023, physical media sales in the US were at only $754 million, a decrease of $1.05 billion from the same period in 2022. With streaming costs increasing (Netflix now costs £12.99 per month without adverts (a controversial and unpopular move in itself in a time of high inflation), as opposed to £5.99 at launch in 2012), this decline in sales is likely to continue.
On the other hand, there is some evidence of improvement, with the same US survey finding that sales rose almost 6% in the third quarter of 2023. This equals a 20% increase from the third quarter of 2022. Additionally, HMV have reported their ‘visual category’ sales rose by 5% in the first half of 2024.
Despite this, Era, the digital entertainment and retail association reported that DVD and Blu-Ray sales decreased by 4.7% over the same period, showing that sales in general are still in decline.
The unavailability of often popular media as streaming platforms become more selective of titles and more costly also drives other issues, piracy in particular. From 2021 to 2022, film piracy increased by 38.6%, and visits to piracy websites for TV content raised by 8.8%. In many cases, this is all that conserves the content that is removed and keeps it available for viewers. On the other hand, the encouragement of piracy means readily available content will also be pirated, depriving its creators of their deserved profits. It also puts consumers in danger, as piracy sites are known to have unstable connections, spreading viruses to connected devices. Piracy also carries a risk of exposure to graphic or disturbing content, particularly for underage users.
Unless titles are saved, by either ownership of physical media or retention by streaming services, the only remaining options for consumers will be to pirate the content or for it to be rendered unwatchable. As such, the further society depends upon streaming providers - particularly under the pressure of inflation - the more content will be lost.
Image:
Free Vector | Illustration for movie watching, home entertainment concept. Cartoon illustration
Facts/Statistics:
https://thescarlet.org/18350/larts/why-streaming-content-is-becoming-the-newest-form-of-lost-media/
https://theksusentinel.com/2024/08/31/opinion-the-problem-with-lost-media/