Streaming service subscriptions

As streaming subscriptions have grown, USPS package volume has grown, a correlation of 0.983 that connects digital entertainment to physical delivery with the logistical confidence of a chart that knows you are watching Netflix while waiting for your Amazon package. The subscription streams, the package arrives, and both numbers climb because the same smartphone enables both the watching and the ordering, often simultaneously.

Streaming subscriptions grew from about 10 million to over 350 million between 2007 and 2022. USPS packages grew from about 3.1 billion to over 7.3 billion. Both are driven by the same digital infrastructure: streaming subscriptions grow because broadband enables them, and packages grow because e-commerce (enabled by the same broadband) replaced retail trips. The smartphone that streams the show also orders the products, and the correlation tracks the same device doing two things at the same time.

Sixteen years of streaming and packages is a correlation between two products of the same digital transformation: the entertainment comes through the screen, the products come through the mail, and both are enabled by the same internet connection. The subscriber streams, the buyer clicks, and the mail carrier delivers the consequence. The content is digital. The packaging is not.