The Streaming Wars Keep Getting More Interesting

🔢 By the numbers… So far, the streaming wars have two big winners: Netflix (214M subs) and Disney (118M) – though to be fair, Amazon’s success is hard to gauge. The company said 175 million Prime members streamed shows in 2020, but their main subscription option offers more than just streaming.

Regardless, it’s still anyone’s game.

• 92% of Apple TV+ subscribers also get Netflix, as do 90% of HBO Max subscribers, 87% of Disney+’s, 85% of Hulu’s, and 84% of Amazon Prime Video’s.
• 79% of Hulu subscribers also pay for Amazon, 68% for Disney+, 38% for Apple TV+, and 32% for HBO Max.
• All in all, the average American household pays for four streaming services. (#TeamDisneyNetflixPrimeHBO, amirite?!)

🎟 Worth mentioning: The line studios are trying to walk between taking their top-end content directly to streaming services to attract more paying subscribers, and preserving the exclusive theatrical window that’s traditionally driven a bulk of their revenue.

• NBCUniversal recently announced a hybrid-distribution strategy for this upcoming year that narrows the theatrical window from 60 to 45 days on most movies and bolsters its Peacock streaming service.

📈 Zoom out: Indirect winners of this new streaming world are the locations where shows and movies are being filmed. Take the UK, for instance – the investment in making films and high-end TV shows costing at least £1 million ($1.37 million) per episode in the country last year was two-thirds more than the previous record set in pre-pandemic 2019.

+Content overload?... Half of streaming subscribers say they have a hard time deciding what to watch, according to data from Morning Consult.