“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” my friend exclaimed after she discovered what for her was HOOQ’s life-changing feature.
My friend was referring to the streaming service’s rich catalog of over 1,000 Filipino movies spanning almost five decades and over 4,000 hours of local television. At that time, she had been watching Sharon Cuneta movies, even buying original DVDs. Her sons’ Globe lines came with free HOOQ subscriptions and that’s how she discovered that she could watch Tagalog movies there.
It was indeed remiss of me not to have told her about HOOQ and its Tagalog movies. The subscription is perfect for people like her.
For me, one of the great things that technology has brought is access to our favorite movies and TV shows via streaming services, like HOOQ, Netflix and iFlix. It’s just so easy to subscribe to one or all three. You can also rent or buy movies and TV shows from iTunes, Amazon Prime and Google Play.
Of course, younger people will shrug their shoulders at that statement because they can’t understand how these conveniences were not available then. But the struggle was real for us.
Back in the day (I’m going to say that a lot here), it was not often that we could afford to buy cinema tickets or rent Betamax and VHS tapes or laser discs. Those were luxuries, right up there with a McDonald’s Cheeseburger Meal. Students and young professionals then didn’t have much money, aside from what we earned or received from our parents, which wasn’t much, too.
Up until college, my TV watching hours were restricted, too. That plus the fact that there wasn’t much too much on the channels, and there weren’t too many channels, which all signed off at around 11 or 12 pm. Video rentals were luxuries. Watching movies in cinemas were something we did with the family once a month, if we got lucky.
As a young professional, I remember thinking that my best friend was so lucky that she had a laser disc player and she could afford to rent several movies every week. There was this Chinese movie that we liked, The Lover, that we watched over and over at her house. When I became a mom and my daughter was a teenager, I remember that the trend for “obtaining” movies and TV shows was through, uhm, nefarious methods. To this day, some people still do this, though on a lesser scale.
A friend of mine was so good at this that we called her “The Pirate”. Of course, years later, we no longer need torrents or anything like that.
Nobody watches TV anymore.
In our household, only my 78-year-old mother watches free and cable TV. I usually go for YouTube or streaming (via HOOQ, Netflix and/or iFlix). My daughter is a YouTube native, having been watching videos on the platform since she was 14. Thanks to her, I know content creators, like Pewdiepie, Dan Howell, Phil Lester, Caspar Lee and Joe Sugg.
The power of YouTube cannot be underestimated. The young content creators there are real influencers. I remember my daughter, then around 16 or 17, pestering me to buy her a Topman shirt. I wondered why since other female teenagers would go for something from Topshop. It turns out that the British YouTubers that she followed bought their clothes from Topman. When Shakeaway opened in the Philippines last year, she was also very excited because this store (which sold milkshakes and other drinks) was the favorite of Howell and Lester.
Thanks to my daughter, I’m one of those mothers who isn’t ignorant about YouTube. Note to other parents: YouTube is where your kids are at. Most of them aren’t watching porn or anything. They’re into Pewdiepie, Joe Sugg, Bretman Rock, Kathleen Lights, Janina Vela, Wil Dasovich, Anna Cay, Michelle Dy, Say Tioco and many other talented content creators.
Thanks to this knowledge, I’m not one of those moms who scream at their kids, “You’re always on the Internet!” I understand how easy it is to get lost watching videos, how hours could pass and that’s the only thing you do.
Parents, our kids are always on the Internet because it’s there they can find people to relate to. There, they aren’t lost, misunderstood or judged.
Okay, back to the topic. A couple of years ago, streaming services came to our country. I’m not sure but I think it was iFlix that came first. My US Netflix subscription was courtesy of a friend.
Now, I have a Philippines-based Netflix subscription for a little less than P400 a month. I also have HOOQ and am thinking of getting iFlix because they have MTV shows, like Catfish. I obviously have a lot of time to watch shows and videos on my computer or mobile phone.
Spending over P1,000 monthly on streaming subscriptions may seem extravagant but I like to think of it as therapy.
1 comment
“Nobody watches TV anymore.”
Maybe for the rich.