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I'll admit it. I subscribe to Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Hulu, Apple, Peacock, Max, and Paramount+. But the average American subscribes to 4 streaming services at an average of $61/month. Which is still a lot! There is a true streaming war, as these players fight for our attention. To survive, players will need at least 200 million subscribers (something only Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ combined with Hulu have done) They will need to spend $50M for blockbuster hits, over and over. And they will need sports, which both attract new subscribers, and retain (at least for the duration of the season) subscribers who want to watch their teams live. There's not a lot of room for price increases, especially after the recent round--so many are looking at ad revenue as a source of growth. According to this excellent article, which anyone interested in streaming should read, the rise of ads may lead streaming services to provide lower prestige, popular content (think police procedurals and hospital dramas) mixed with some big sports events. Sounds like what we used to have with Cable. 📝 James Stewart, Benjamin Mullin #litrendingtopics #streamingwars #subscriptions

I Will Survive « Who Will Survive? How many streaming services will consumers support? That was one of the great mysteries of the nascent streaming world, and the answer is coming into focus: not very many. “Can your current business be a successful player and have long-term wealth generation, or are you going to be roadkill?” Mr. Malone mused. “I think all the small players will have to shrink down or go away.” A recent Deloitte study found that American households paid an average of $61 a month for four streaming services, but that many didn’t think the expense was worth it. That suggests the once-unthinkable possibility, many of the executives said, that there will be only three or four streaming survivors: Netflix and Amazon, almost certainly. Probably some combination of Disney and Hulu. Apple remains a niche participant, but appears to be feeling its way into a long-term, albeit money-losing, presence, which it can afford to do. That leaves big question marks over Peacock, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, and Paramount+. »

Media titans, including John Malone, Brian Roberts, Barry Diller, Ted Sarandos, and Mike Hopkins, share their predictions on the future of streaming. Here are some of the key insights offered by them: ➤ The number of subscribers needed to be successful is at least 200 million, with only Netflix, Disney, and Amazon having reached that milestone. ➤ Spending on content will remain significant, with some shows costing well over $100 million per season, to combat churn that is as high as 7% for some of the smaller streaming services. ➤ More of the content spend will be devoted to live sports, resulting in bidding wars unlike anything experienced before in the media industry. ➤ Companies are likely to continue raising prices aggressively on ad-free tiers in an effort to drive consumers to ad-supported versions. ➤ Bundling may help reduce churn but will lead to a decline in average revenue per user. ➤ Only three or four streaming services will survive in the long-term. Read more about the future of streaming in The New York Times:

There was a time when the main topic was always the #streamingwar, now it appears this is not hot anymore as we had a clear winner: Netflix! How the big players The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Pictures, Apple and Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios are going to fight back? Thanks to David Urgell for sharing this interesting article that explain How Netflix won the streaming wars. https://lnkd.in/d6bbDgVi

The Future of Streaming (According to the Moguls Figuring It Out) Who will survive? Die? Thrive? And how? We talked to nearly a dozen top media executives and asked them to predict what lies ahead. Paramount, the media empire controlled by Shari Redstone, lost $1.6 billion on streaming last year. Comcast lost $2.7 billion on its Peacock streaming service. Disney lost about $2.6 billion on its services, which include Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. Warner Bros. Discovery says its Max streaming service eked out a profit last year, but only by including HBO sales through cable distributors. Streaming service’s profitability depends in large part on how many paying subscribers are needed before those TV shows and movies become cost-effective. There was a time when industry executives hoped that number might be as low as 100 million. But now the consensus among many of the executives interviewed is that the number is at least 200 million, and possibly more. When cable TV was in its heyday, 1.5 to 2 percent of subscribers churned monthly, abandoning or suspending their service. The average churn across all streaming services is more than double that, according to data from analytics firm Antenna, with the churn rate of some smaller streaming services, like Paramount+, as high as 7 percent. Only Netflix has a churn rate below 4 percent.

The streaming business model is under scrutiny as media executives acknowledge its sustainability challenges. While legacy companies like Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney grapple with financial losses, Netflix and Amazon stand out as success stories in the industry. The focus remains on traditional TV strategies such as bundling, licensing, live sports, and ad-supported tiers to retain subscribers and drive profitability. What are your thoughts on the future of streaming? (https://lnkd.in/g-qjEnVQ)

Amazing long form article on the streaming media at a crossroads, with industry titans like Brian Roberts, John Malone, and Barry Diller recognizing the unsustainable nature of current business models. Here are the key takeaways: 1. Legacy media giants like Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney are struggling financially, while disruptors like Netflix and Amazon thrive. 2. The magic number for profitability in streaming is at least 200 million subscribers, with Netflix leading the pack. 3. Costs for content production and sports programming are soaring, creating significant financial pressure. Opportunities: 1. Bundling services can attract price-sensitive consumers and reduce churn. 2. Advertising-supported tiers offer new revenue streams and potential growth. 3. Licensing content, as demonstrated by Sony, can be a profitable strategy without running a streaming service. Challenges: 1. Achieving profitability requires massive investments in content and sports rights. 2. High churn rates and subscriber acquisition costs are ongoing issues. 3. The industry may consolidate, with only a few major players likely to survive. The future of streaming hinges on balancing quality content with financial viability. Innovation and strategic partnerships will be crucial for navigating this evolving landscape. #Streaming #MediaIndustry #Netflix #AmazonPrime #Disneyplus #WarnerBros #Paramount https://lnkd.in/gu-pY6ew

✅🖥️ The Hollywood Reporter (6/26): “By now everyone in Hollywood seems to accept that streaming is a cutthroat business. It may not be zero sum (most studies suggest that consumers will pay for about four streaming services at a time), but it is mighty close to it. And with Netflix holding a secure lock on one of those subscriptions for most consumers, there is increasingly little room for error. But the streaming wars between giant services like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney, Max, Peacock, Paramount+ and others also obscure an entire ecosystem of streaming offerings that are trying to carve out their own niches in an increasingly difficult environment. For all the press that the big streaming platforms get, there is a surprisingly vibrant world of boutique and specialty streamers chasing loyal and engaged fans at a much smaller scale. And new players continue to enter the space. In the world of comedy, there is Dropout, born out of the comedy website College Humor. And BuzzFeed veterans-turned YouTubers The Try Guys and Watcher have launched dedicated subscription streaming offerings of their own in recent weeks in an effort to more effectively monetize the sometimes fleeting audience that YouTube or social platforms deliver. Sony offers CrunchyRoll, an anime-focused service, which boasts 13MM subscribers; AMC Networks operates services like the horror-centric Shudder and the British-focused Acorn TV; and Cineverse operates the horror service Screambox and independent film service Fandor.” ⬇️ #streamingtv #ctvadvertising #avod #svod #fast #ott https://lnkd.in/eyBBAdWE

Streaming wars have bruised the entertainment industry. Despite Netflix's success in subscription-based streaming, profitability is elusive with high content costs. Amazon, NBCUniversal, Paramount aren't profitable yet, while Disney and Warner Bros. survived with tough strategies. In pursuit of online growth, industry's health suffered. Strikes by Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild highlight how industry math doesn't add up, impacting mid-tier creatives. Pre-streaming era had stability and success metrics, now a locked box of data. Don't just dream endless potential, enjoy reality. More at https://lnkd.in/d4wyNAgt. #StreamingWars #EntertainmentIndustry

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em HBO Max, Hulu, and Disney Streaming all collab on a streaming bundle as they need scale to compete with Netflix. As an aside, Warner Bros. Discovery at one time owned 10% of Netflix which today would be $26B (10% of Netflix's $262B) 35% more than WBD's entire market cap of $19B, but I digress. The #streamingwars are seemingly over (well this battle is over, but the war is never won......) and Netflix is on top, despite Disney squeaking out a few pennies on the last earnings call (47M, basically covers Bob 1's salary, plus the champagne fee). This new bundle kinda sounds like #ultraviolet, anyone remember that? It merged with #disneymoviesanywhere, which became #moviesanywhere, which became? Does anyone know what this became? Ultraviolet was doomed from the start at the studios could not agree on almost anything except that they needed something to compete with Netflix. Could not agree on strategy, could not agree on how much to fund it, and so on. Meanwhile, a lean-mean Netflix machine pumped money into their strategy and gained users when Wall-Street money was cheap. Those days are over. As long as these companies  ̶c̶o̶l̶l̶a̶b̶o̶r̶a̶t̶e̶ chase and cut costs, the next battle is already won, and you can have one "tudum" to figure out who that winner will be. Media Play News #streaming #bundles #whatelsecanwedo https://lnkd.in/gukcAfcy