Poll: On Air
“Who do you think will end up winning the streaming wars?”
- 61% Netflix – the first and best
- 27% Disney – everyone loves Baby Yoda!
- 9%: Amazon Prime – pump out the volume
- 3% Apple TV – too late star-studded mate?
One of 2020’s most interesting storylines will be how a hodge-podge assembly of mega brand-owned streaming start-ups disrupt Netflix and compete for eyeball share in the entertainment space. Analysts tip the streaming market to be worth $123 billion by 2024. According to our most recent poll, this is how the Invstr community sees those dollars being divided.
Taking a bold, contrarian stance against this year’s bearish market sentiment, the Invstr community is betting the purse on Netflix!
The youngest company in the running it may be, but Netflix was the industry’s first mover with a tight grip on global “mindshare.” The key metric to watch is subscription numbers. While they don’t directly translate into investor profits, the advantage of scale and reach promises huge control over pricing, costs, licensing, and optionality.
Of course, other eye-catching services could turn the disruptor into the disrupted. The challenge for Netflix is to make an ad-free profit while at the same time competing against the guys across the street! One of those is Disney+.
Over a quarter of poll respondents see Disney’s nostalgia-driven family affair as a winner in the new year, despite being released in a country where 30% of households are single-person dwellings. Disney has pricing power, and that’s where its teeth are sharpest. At only $7 per month, Disney+ has forced down the launch prices of Apple TV, immediately putting Tim Cook on the back foot.
Amazon’s goal is to drive the Prime flywheel. Countless consumers are “locked-in” to the e-commerce ecosystem, and as our poll suggests, that should give Amazon an outside chance at permanently stealing Netflix subscribers. The company is pouring billions into content and is working on combining hardware like Alexa and Fire TV with its streaming offering.
Last and most definitely least, with only 3% of the vote, we have Apple TV! Despite a star-studded array of talent at its disposal, Apple is another competitor to Netflix without any experience making original content. Success is defined by getting customers hooked on bundled Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and hardware offers.
