Setting the stage… The entertainment industry’s moving full steam ahead. Streaming’s becoming more like cable with higher prices, more ads, and live sports broadcasts. Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu have all jacked up prices, with several streamers (hello, Netflix and Amazon Prime) working to squeeze ads into cheaper subscription tiers. And password-sharing crackdowns spearheaded by Netflix are becoming more common with ESPN+, Hulu, and Max suggesting they’ll follow suit. Meantime, streamers are chasing the same live-entertainment ball, with the likes of Amazon, Netflix, and Apple spending billions on live-sports deals. Fox, Disney, and Warner Bros. recently teamed up on a live-sports streaming bundle.
Roll credits… The battle for streaming supremacy is ongoing, but one streamer’s fought its way to the top: Netflix’s 260M paying subscribers make it far and away the most successful of the bunch, despite billions in spending from rivals including Disney and Warner Bros. Netflix is also the only major US streamer that’s profitable. Disney+ and Hulu lost subscribers in the last three months of last year.
Close-up shot: Streamers pulled in 164M+ subs last year, but racked up 140M cancellations as subscription fatigue set in.