Competition Killed The Streaming Star
I heard you on the internet way back in ‘07. Up streaming late at night, we’d binge-watch ‘til we’re blue.
Though you were young, it didn’t stop you coming through. (Oh-a oh!)
Amazon took the credit for your second symphony. Then Hulu ate your lunch, and so did Walt Disney.
And now, you understand the problems you can see… (Oh-a oh!)
Yes, Great Ones … I’m riffing on a little “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles today. It just felt appropriate after this weekend’s Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) news.
Wait … you didn’t hear, did you? This one nearly slipped through the news cracks, and Wall Street completely ignored it. You see…
Netflix lost market share in 2020!
Sorry, that needed its own line. According to new data from Ampere Analysis, Netflix’s subscription-streaming market share dropped to just 20% in 2020 from 29% in 2019. That’s a 30% decline!
Now think about this for a minute. During a year where most of the world’s population was stranded at home due to a pandemic, a time when most people had few other options than to binge-watch streaming content … Netflix lost market share.
Now, of course, Netflix still added a record 37 million subs in 2020. And it banked more than $25 billion in revenue. But, just look at these market share numbers:
- Netflix: 20%.
- Amazon Prime Video: 16%.
- Hulu: 13%.
- HBO Max: 12%.
- Disney+: 11%.
- Apple TV: 5%
- Peacock: 5%.
- ESPN+: 4%.
At a glance, you’re probably thinking: Mr. Great Stuff, you’re blowing this out of proportion! Netflix is still dominating!
Am I? Am I?
Take a closer look. Three of those four streaming services are owned by Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS): Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+. Combine subscriptions for those services, and Disney currently owns 28% of the streaming market — according to Ampere’s data, anyway.
The caveat here is that Ampere postulates that Netflix lost market share to HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock. I mean, nobody’s paying for Peacock. The service lost nearly $1 billion last year.
Meanwhile, I’m impressed, if not surprised, that HBO Max has 12% of the market. The content is good enough, but AT&T (NYSE: T) is such a boneheaded company that I can’t help but marvel at the fact that it made a dent in the streaming market. Imagine what AT&T could do if it got out of its own way…
Anyway, the numbers make it crystal clear. Walt Disney is the new king of streaming … and it’s just getting started. The company has yet to fully engage with overseas markets, especially with Disney+.
The bottom line is that while Netflix may not be at the end of its rope … it can certainly see the end from here. Walt Disney is where it’s at … but then, Great Stuff Picks readers already know that.
Editor’s Note: Big Data and AI Used to Predict the No. 1 Investment of the 2020s
This wasn’t reported in the mainstream media, but the world’s largest investment fund (Vanguard) just put a team of Ph.D.s and top-gun finance experts together with one goal…
To discover what will become the biggest mega trend of the near future. They pored over 2 BILLION data points and found the technology inside one little-known machine will be bigger than artificial intelligence, 5G, blockchain, robotics, Big Data or any other next-generation technology.
Click here to learn all about it!
Beyond Meat (Nasdaq: BYND) finally moved beyond U.S. shores and opened up its first manufacturing facility in China. The company’s plant-based production plant will process Beyond Pork — the company’s first product specifically designed for China.
A localized supply chain will help Beyond Meat better reach consumers and flesh out China’s alternative pork supply. The country has bounced back from last year’s pork shortage, but the ever-present threat of African swine fever is still a notable problem for the perennial pork purchaser.
It ain’t no joke, Sunrun (Nasdaq: RUN) just got another bullish note. RBC started covering Sunrun with an outperform rating and $81 price target … aka, right around Sunrun’s February highs. Solar season is heating up, and RBC joins the growing gusto for Sunrun’s stock on the Street. Just the other week, Goldman Sachs said don’t delay! Act now! Solar is running up after its recent sharp sell-off.
If your Easter basket was plumb out of fresh biotech IPOs on Sunday … you’re in luck! Vaccitech is about to price its public market debut, and if the name doesn’t ring a bell to you, don’t worry. Vaccitech owns the tech behind the COVID-19 vaccine that Oxford University developed with AztraZeneca (Nasdaq: AZN).
Sounds like Vaccitech is trying not to miss the boat on vaccine tech hype … but hey, what would make for better IPO hype than a global vaccine rollout?
On the other side of the biotech confidence spectrum … Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) rheumatoid arthritis drug, Xeljanz, will go under safety review in the U.S. and Canada. Pfudge! Xeljanz is behind what Pfizer’s calling “adverse cardiac events” and higher rates of cancer … which is a nice way to say: “These meds are dang near killing people.”
Xeljanz and its fellow “JAK inhibitor” drugs are on hold, and this could really hurt Pfizer’s revenue. Xeljanz is one of its biggest revenue generators — $2.4 billion last year — though I’d be glad to never see another Xeljanz commercial on the air.
Great Ones, welcome to poll day!
In last week’s super-short survey, we asked whether or not you’re snatching up 2021’s blue-light specials — you know, those market bargains that beat earnings expectations but plunge in the aftermath.
Turns out, only about 22.5% of you are braving the beat-raise-and-dips to buy in, while another 32.3% of you want to stay out of the fickle trading froth. And why am I not surprised that the rest of y’all (45.2%) just do whatever the voices trapped in your head say?
Listening to voices? Y’all really are Great Ones. I’m proud.
Let’s see what those voices think about this week’s poll, if you will…
We’re doing a bit of back-patting and streaming chit-chatting today. Back on January 20, when 2021 was but a nascent hopeful beginning, we asked y’all if this would be the year that Walt Disney overtakes Netflix as the streaming market’s dominating don.
I didn’t expect Netflix’s to topple off the throne so quickly — wait, yes, I did! DIS was one of our New Year’s picks for a reason, but now I gotta know: With Netflix clearly moving out of its “growth company” phase … has the OG streamer hit its peak?
Click below and let me know!
Remember: Poll day ain’t the only day to make your thoughts heard! Reader Feedback day — Thursday — is nearly upon us, Great Ones.
If you have more teeming thoughts on the shifting streaming tides … let us know! If you think Netflix has peaked, will it hold its No. 2 spot? Or will HBO Max Amazon or someone else push it further down the ladder?
And which streaming platforms do you mainly hang around these days? Anyone out there use Fubo? Hello?
GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com is the virtual water cooler around which we’ll gather tomorrow.
And for all those numerous readers writing in saying “Add me!” or “Sign me up!” … first off, how’d you receive this? Second, all you have to do to sign up for Great Stuff is click here!
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Until next time, stay Great!
Joseph Hargett
Editor, Great Stuff