We are in a cyclical change in audiovisual consumption, and like all changes, they bring with them a crisis. It remains to be seen how you come out of this and with which winning actors.
Streaming platforms, companies and businesses have turned their content spending into a money-burning race to keep the attention of home viewers at a time when this battle is becoming more competitive than ever.
Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, HBO Max (pending merger with Discovery), Apple TV+, AMC+, Paramount, Peacock in the US, Starzplay. And all this without taking into account the sites of each territory. And virtually all of them—with a few lesser-known exceptions—are not profitable.
The big question in the medium to long term is who will be able to sustain this level of spending and when the wheel will turn to profit. Overspending on content and marketing, for example, has been a Netflix recipe for years. cash flow and investor euphoria, as well as significant growth in subscribers to keep the catalog fresh and attractive.
The problem arose when the economic context changed, users had more competition when choosing.and investors are afraid.
But let’s see how we got here and where the main platforms are.
It’s a waste of time right now to get attention and keep subscribers.
Prime Video, with the premiere Rings of Power, the platform that spends the most money. Of course, with the endurance that the entire Amazon conglomerate can give you. The situation is similar to that of Apple TV+, which in a complex way can be profitable, but is an addition to its offering in Apple One or even Disney Plus, whose parent company has restored with the improvement of the pandemic what has always been its most profitable business: it’s not cinema. and amusement parks.
But let’s go with the red giant in the low hours. Netflix has surpassed Amazon in the last decade and has produced many more shows. However, keep in mind that Netflix’s only business is streaming, not e-commerce, the cloud, or devices like Amazon or Apple.
the date high on Disney Plus now and save with an annual subscriptionwith which you can enjoy its entire catalog of series and films, access to the latest releasesto catalog Star and the best National Geographic documentaries.
However, in the past few years, Netflix has been valued as a technology company. Like this. Its apps and recommendation algorithms are its biggest asset, but its stock has certainly moved closer to Apple stock than Disney stock, where it’s still closer. Netflix remains more of a competitor to big TVs than any major technology.
We knew the beat this year. In the three months ending June 30, Netflix lost 970,000 subscribers.. His first serious fall in over a decade… Fatigue?
Regardless, you have to give Caesar what Caesar owns: Netflix still has 220.67 million subscribers and has said it expects to add a million in the third quarter.
Of course, certain cries of alarm are already being heard. The company laid off about 450 employees., announced a cheaper ad-supported subscription plan thanks to a new partnership with Microsoft, and tightened up password sharing. Changes are coming, and if everything went well, there would not be so many of them.
Global and changing market
There are also aspects of Amazon’s business where its success is underestimated. It has a large audience in overseas markets such as Western Europe, Japan and India. Amazon is the leading streaming service in Japan, second only to Disney in India, according to Media Partners Asia.
The business of a company that sells other streaming services generates a lot of revenue and viewership. Services like Paramount+, Starz and Showtime get a significant portion of their customer base from Amazon, according to Antenna, a third-party data company.
And the most important thing. Amazon can afford to play long term. Even when buying MGMIt probably won’t oust Disney as the world’s largest entertainment company. You don’t need it either. There are worse ways to spend billions of dollars than funding art to sell toilet paper.
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We are wrapping up this tour with Disney, the great entertainment giant that, despite this, with a big bet on Disney Plus, continues to lose money.
Disney is heavily investing in content, marketing and technology infrastructure., but losses for Disney’s streaming division topped $1 billion, up from $300 million a year earlier. Streaming revenue increased 19% to $5.1 billion.
In the coming years, we will find out how many of these names continue and with what force. In the meantime, let’s enjoy the era as viewers with the largest selection in history.
