“The golden age of TV programming is heading for a grisly finale. Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Hulu are on course to boost their spending on new shows and movies at a faster clip than the growth of the overall video-streaming market,” Jennifer Saba writes for Reuters. “Consolidation among traditional media groups is only adding to the frenzy. Something will have to give.”
“Netflix set off the arms race. In 2017, the company founded by Reed Hastings directed $6 billion toward licensing and original series like ‘Stranger Things.’ In 2018, executives plan to earmark up to $8 billion for content, a 33 percent increase year-over-year,” Saba writes. “Across the industry, the number of original TV shows has more than doubled to 455 between 2010 and 2016, according to research firm MoffettNathanson.”
“Along with Amazon, Hulu and Apple, the total spending on content by the big four media upstarts in 2018 will mushroom some 30 percent year-over-year to $18 billion, according to a Breakingviews forecast based on analysts’ estimates,” Saba writes. “The tangle of options in streaming services and programming chasing a finite number of subscribers suggests the industry is entering into an unsustainable investment battle – and a potential price war may follow as players try to rake in extra market share… Competitors Apple and Amazon could easily outmatch Netflix on content budgets if they decided to abandon financial reason.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Those who can wrap their heads around Apple’s massive cash mountain and the company’s unparalleled ability to generate cash can clearly see who the winner will be. The most talented producers, writers, directors, editors, actors, etc. are attracted to exactly what Apple has and makes in vast abundance: Cash. The king.
Like bears to honey, it’s happening already.
There will be a market for content that Apple will not want to put their name on. The also-rans that survive will do so by becoming the “skinamax” of the content streamers or by narrowly specializing and sharply focusing their branding.
Apple should use their cash pile to create some much needed leverage to finally get their Apple TV subscription bundle(s) up and running. — MacDailyNews, January 13, 2016
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