Are online casinos competing with streaming platforms?
Online casinos and streaming platforms are two completely different animals, right? On the surface, the first conjures up images of slot machines, blackjack tables and piles of cash. The second immediately brings to mind shows, movies and binge-watching. Zoom out for a second and look at how we actually spend our time, however, and the lines start to blur. Streaming and online gambling are both online, on-demand and competing for attention.
The crucial question, then, is whether online casinos are starting to encroach on streaming territory in a meaningful way.
Passive streaming versus interactive gaming
Streaming platforms and online casinos offer very different experiences. Streaming is a passive activity: we sit back and watch as the content washes over us, occasionally thumbing through on our phones. Online casinos, in comparison, are all about the interaction: clicking on options, using our hands, and in some instances, using our voices.
There are also bonuses and promotions with online casinos. For example, the top Casino Bonuses in Thailand rated by AskGamblers, a well-known iGaming review platform, usually require players to do something in order to claim said bonuses. Whether that be depositing a certain amount or playing a particular game, participation is actively encouraged.
Online casinos generally offer more interactivity, and for some people, this can be more rewarding and involving. If we’re looking to switch off, then passively viewing a show might be the way to go, but on nights when we find ourselves winding down with less of an appetite for passive viewing, a little gaming can feel more stimulating, more immediate. Online casinos and streaming platforms then, are not competing with one another but are occupying the same headspace.
Streaming wars
Both online casinos and streaming services battle it out to earn the eyes of consumers. Streaming services have emerged and grown as the dominant home entertainment option of the modern age, with competitors such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+ and more vying for people’s money – and crucially, their attention. Competition in this arena has heated up in the last few years with exclusive content deals, and platforms vying to be first to stream high-profile shows and films. This is the world of movies and TV shows: a place where online casinos have no business, right?
Night after night, we all have the same finite amount of free time after work, socializing and chores. Streaming services have long since colonized that time. Just a few taps on your TV remote or phone and you’re in, with the platform’s smart algorithms guiding your hand to your next binge-watch. Online casinos have started to work their way into that same free time. A quick game here, a few spins there – they’re in a space that they traditionally shouldn’t be. But we can swap out the slot machine for an episode of the Sopranos, and we can go down that route instead.
Personalization and algorithms
Streaming platforms and online casinos have something else in common, too. They’re both awash with algorithms and suggestions based on our past behavior, most often using viewing or gameplay history to make assumptions about our future actions. Logging into a streaming service or an online casino will offer us a curated entertainment experience almost uniquely designed for us: what are we to do with that power?
Online casinos are particularly adept at giving us that feeling: their homepages, notifications and promotions are tailored to appeal to us as individuals, based on past behavior and what they hope will draw us back in. Streaming platforms mirror that function: opening up a service and being greeted by a recommended lineup that suits our preferences can have a similar effect. When both online casinos and streaming services can be just as personalized to us, then the battle for our free time is all the more closely fought.
Session time
Online casinos also edge a step closer to streaming territory in that they often encourage shorter session times than streaming services might do. Streaming, by its very nature, can be a marathon activity. One episode of the latest Netflix drama can too easily lead to three before we notice, and the final episode of a new season can easily see the clock creep toward 2am. Online casinos are different.
They are a far more flexible form of entertainment: a session can last five minutes or five hours. They are perfect for squeezing in some play during downtime when there’s no time for a full show, or after dinner and before bed, with players dipping in and out without the commitment of watching something in full. By carving out a new place for themselves within our free time, online casinos are edging into the space that streaming platforms might once have considered theirs alone.
Conclusion
Does this all mean that online casinos and streaming services are competing against one another? That seems unlikely, on the surface at least. Streaming services have not been replaced by online casinos and are unlikely to be any time soon. But what has happened is that online casinos have become their own form of entertainment, offering various ways in which we can consume different content in the same free time, on the same devices and making the same decisions around what to do, how to do it and how to spend our money.
Online casinos are no longer confined to a single box on their own: they also have a claim to our free time. We now have a choice in what we opt to do, and online casinos have seized that opportunity and made that space their own, whether that be to watch or to play.
