Together, traditional US media conglomerates such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Paramount Global and NBCUniversal lost an estimated $11 billion invested in streaming in 2022.
The number is indicated by the column Na Telinha, from UOL, with values that take into account revenues from subscriptions and expenses with the production and licensing of films and series. These behemoths have sought investment in this sector, with platforms HBO Max, Disney +, Hulu, Star +, Paramount +, Pluto TV and Peacock, in an attempt to try to supplant Netflix, in what is known as the “streaming war”. “. .
Taking traditional investment in the film industry as an example, there has always been a risk. But no matter how much a movie lost because it didn’t pay for itself at the box office, the product’s useful life was stretched with DVD sales, rentals, and licensing. Thus, these small earnings add up and are reinvested in new productions.
But Netflix has come along with a new business model known as direct-to-consumer, using much of this content broadcast by traditional studios themselves. As a result, traditional media conglomerates became interested in this model, while Netflix started financing the production of content, so-called Netflix Originals.
Netflix soon became as valuable a company as the famous secular studios. The company has invested heavily to produce more and more in a short time, fueling a streaming platform whose subscription volume would have had to grow more and more to sustain itself.
Meanwhile, Netflix’s media competitors realized they could make more money from their own platforms by removing the barriers between studios and the end consumer. Therefore, Hollywood invested heavily in their streaming platforms, abandoning a distribution structure that had worked for decades.
With the pandemic and the change in consumer behavior that has resulted from it, studios have launched their own platforms. But 2022 has arrived, when Netflix too has lost subscribers and had to look for alternatives to continue gaining subscribers, not losing them.
The shift in strategy to embrace the streaming wars has generated billions of losses for the big media conglomerates. Meanwhile, pioneer Netflix reported positive net revenue of nearly $4.5 billion in 2022.
Despite the collapse of the pay TV market, which has caused a drop in advertising investment, the large conglomerates are returning to invest in traditional cinema, reducing the speed of direct investment in streaming.
This includes re-authorizing movies and series instead of classifying their productions as exclusive, which they did precisely to try and stop Netflix at the start of this “war”.
Post War Streaming Generated Billions in Losses in 2022 first appeared on Olhar Digital.
Source: Olhar Digital
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
