7A - Testing the Hypothesis

1. Opportunity: I believe there is an opportunity for an online streaming service at UF. It would allow students to stream a variety of movies/tv shows as well as Gator sports and save them money by having the service through one provider instead of multiple outside vendors. Students would pay a fee every month for access to the streaming platform. 
2. The Who: UF students The What: Students currently pay money to multiple outside vendors to have movies and TV shows at the touch of their fingers, but this hinders them from spending their money on other things. The Why: Students have high living expenses with payments such as food, tuition, and rent.
3. Testing The Who: I believe most UF students currently have this need and would benefit from the capitalization on this opportunity. I believe many other schools could take advantage of this opportunity and create their own streaming services as well. Testing The What: The boundaries of this are the needs of the UF students. I am assuming that many students deal with the same problem that I do, which is paying for multiple streaming services (which adds up very quickly) and still not having access to all of the shows/movies I want to see. However, if this does not hold true for many UF students, this opportunity is not as good as I originally thought. Testing The Why: I think as a college student myself, it is easy to spend all of your income on living expenses such as food, rent, tuition, car insurance, gas, phone/internet bills, etc. However, it is nice to be able to spend money on fun things sometimes, and if there is one streaming service that offers the vast majority of things you want to watch instead of paying for more than one, I think it would be very popular among students and would allow them to have more money in their pockets. 
4. Interview #1: The first person I interviewed has the Bright Futures scholarship as well as the National Merit scholarship. These scholarships together give her enough money that she does not have to pay for tuition, rent, or groceries out of money from her own pocket. When asked about the streaming services she currently has, she said she pays for Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+. The cost of these  three streaming services amounts to $22 a month. Although all of her living costs are covered by scholarships, she is trying to save money for her future. So, an opportunity like this one would benefit her greatly. Interview #2: The second person I interviewed is from Virginia (pays out-of-state tuition) and came to UF with no scholarships. Her parents are currently loaning her the money to pay for school. When asked about the streaming services she currently has, she said she pays for Netflix and Hulu. The cost of these two streaming services amounts to $15 a month. This is a steep cost for her since she is already indebted to her parents for school and rent. She indicated that this was a lot of money for her to be paying each month, and if there was one service that was cheaper and could provide a better variety of shows, it would benefit her greatly. Interview #3: The third person I interviewed has the highest level of the Bright Futures scholarship. Although she does not pay for her classes, she will be paying for rent on an apartment starting this year with a cost of $695 a month, as well as having to buy groceries. This is a large sum of money to have to be paying each month. When asked what streaming services she has, she said she pays for Netflix, Disney+, and PureFlix. The cost of these three streaming services adds up to $23 a month. She said this is a lot of extra money to be tacked on to her already high monthly costs and a streaming service that would be more affordable and have a better variety would be better for her needs. Interview #4: The fourth person I interviewed was someone who currently pays for no streaming services and just uses her friends accounts to watch shows and movies. She said that although this would be a great idea for other students, it would actually cause her to lose money, because she would be paying for something that she would not normally be paying for. Interview #5: The fifth and final person I interviewed was a student whose parents pay for their streaming services. In doing so, the student is getting the services for free to them. Like the fourth person I interviewed, they indicated that this was a good idea, but would cause them to lose money. 
5. Reflection: My interviews were very interesting and showed the different monetary situations as well as the streaming services of each individual I talked to. I went into the interviews thinking that this opportunity would apply to every UF student and they would find it very helpful in reducing their monthly payments. Although not every student I talked to pays for their streaming services, all five of them had access to a streaming service one way or another. I still believe that my opportunity could be capitalized on, but not every student on campus would get significant use out of it like I originally anticipated.