In just a few short months, streaming went from a fountain of youth — a virtual Schwab’s drug store where 100-year-old media companies felt they were being reinvented — to a money-hungry headache for digital natives and newcomers.
Even during the pandemic, streaming remained an all-consuming monster and something of a fever dream. Many billions were spent in a period of six months, from the end of 2019 to 2020. Apple got into the game after years of hesitation dating back to the Steve Jobs era. Disney, WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal also jumped in ecstasy to catch up with Netflix after years of exchanging satisfied checks. Discovery+ and the updated Paramount+ followed soon after.
This important hub will be expensive, media giants have warned investors, but soon they will have direct relationships with consumers. Fewer intermediaries such as cinema owners or pay-TV operators to negotiate terms. Less ambiguity about the goals of their advertising and programming messages. Finally, the mantra would be a reality: entertainment available when and how a customer wants it. Tech players like Roku and Apple, meanwhile, believed that native streaming pricing would be an ideal fit for the infrastructure they were building, especially if off-the-shelf pricing could be included.
This year, however, something funny happened on the way to Shangri-La. Netflix fell out of bed, reporting its first subscriber loss in more than a decade, and got off to a shaky start in ad-supported streaming, struggling to charge subscribers for the long-free benefit of password sharing. All streaming activities came under intense scrutiny and share prices fell, further weighed down by a sour global economy. Profits and the ability to keep them—not just the rush to get subscribers—became the new prize.
“Capital intensity has increased significantly,” Morgan Stanley media analyst Ben Swinburne wrote in a recent 2022 summary, “and content asset sales and yields have declined.” across all streaming channels will be roughly half of what it will be in 2021. “The industry is clearly entering a new phase,” the analyst added, “a phase we believe will be characterized by 1) cost rationalization, 2) consolidation (of services and/or businesses), and 3) complete exit from the DTC business.
With those sobering thoughts in mind, Deadline takes a look at eight of the top subscription streaming players, assesses their performance in 2022 and what challenges lie ahead for the year ahead. Here’s our overview (in alphabetical order):
Pennant: AppleTV+
HIGHLIGHTS 2022: An Oscar win for best picture KODA and an Emmy win for Outstanding Comedy Series for Teddy Lasso a year of breakthrough pricing has come to a halt.
2022 LOW LIGHT: Apple TV+ still has a small library of licensed content. As subscriptions become more popular, a content library is key to retaining subscribers.
MAIN CHALLENGE FOR 2023: After adding Friday night Major League Baseball games and bidding for NFL rights, could Apple capitalize on its esports push with the launch of a sister streaming offering co-owned and operated with Major League Soccer?
BIGGEST DEMAND FOR 2023: With ads rumored to be coming soon, will Apple TV+ gain more traction than lower-priced rivals?
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Pennant: Disney+
HIGHLIGHTS 2022: Dancing with the starsABC’s move to Disney+ was a milestone in streaming, and the service has thrived with content from some of the company’s most popular IPs war of stars and remain amazed Father Christmas and National treasure.
2022 LOW LIGHT: Disney’s direct-to-consumer businesses, including Hulu and ESPN+, lost $4 billion this year, even as the company added 12.1 million subscribers in the fiscal fourth quarter.
MAIN CHALLENGE FOR 2023: Back on track after Bob Chapek stepped down as CEO and dismantled the media distribution unit’s centralized streaming structure.
BIGGEST DEMAND FOR 2023: With Chapek gone, Bob Iger remains committed to making Disney+ profitable by fiscal 2024 — and at what cost?
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Pennant: HBO max
HIGHLIGHTS 2022: The Emmys, where HBO and HBO Max won a combined 38 trophies, doubled their tally in 2021.
2022 LOW LIGHT: Cancellations through the new Warner Bros Discovery regime, including In-the-Can titles such as bat girl and bitchwhich provoked backlash internally and within the creative community.
MAIN CHALLENGE FOR 2023: HBO Max’s merger with Discovery+, with a difficult rebrand, will likely remove the platinum HBO name.
BIGGEST DEMAND FOR 2023: Could DC’s revamp — perhaps the ultimate rebuild embedded in the WBD empire — provide a Marvel-like growth engine for HBO Max (or whatever its successor will be called)?
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Pennant: Hello
HIGHLIGHTS 2022: With original series like Intoxicated and Only dead in the building By clicking and gaining ground with the Hulu + Live TV bundle, the total subscriber base grew by 8% to 47.2 million in 2021.
2022 LOW LIGHT: While Hulu was a pioneer when it first launched, lately it has shown its age from a product standpoint. It’s almost 2023 – can someone at least give this UI a fresh coat of paint? Even Prime Video in 22 finally revamped its long-sought home screen, leaving Hulu as an industry laggard.
MAIN CHALLENGE FOR 2023: With Iger back in the driver’s seat at Disney, it’s up to Hulu to determine what the 15-year-old streamer wants to be when he grows up. It is in a precarious state and awaits early 2024, when Disney can buy out Comcast’s 33% stake.
BIGGEST DEMAND FOR 2023: With the Comcast acquisition coming in at $27.5 billion (and likely higher, according to an independent party), will Disney pull the trigger? And will it try to consolidate it within Disney+, as many insiders have suggested?
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Pennant: Netflix
HIGHLIGHTS 2022: A large number of viewers for series like Wednesday and dahmer and event films such as The gray man and Glass Onion: A Mystery of Blades.
2022 LOW LIGHT: The shocking first few months of the year, in which 70% of market value was immediately wiped out by the loss of subscribers and the indiscriminate announcement of a decision to change course and accept advertising.
KEY CHALLENGES FOR 2023: Gain traction with the slow-start, ad-supported subscription level of $7 per month; Getting customers to pay extra to share their passwords; break into video games.
BIGGEST QUESTIONS FOR 2023: Will the competitors close the gap? And is the company going against the avowed dislike of theater shows and live sports as much as it is against advertising?
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Pennant: Outstanding+
HIGHLIGHTS 2022: The hatching of 1923the yellowstone Prequel series directed by Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, two weeks before the end of the year. The premiere episode broke Paramount+ viewership records and marked a win for the streamer’s original content.
2022 LOW LIGHT: Investments in streaming have reduced parent company Paramount Global’s revenue, prompting executives to seek “meaningful and significant” cost savings for the new year.
MAIN CHALLENGE FOR 2023: Balancing streaming and linear television is a dilemma for all major media companies, but a particular dilemma for CBS, MTV, Showtime and a host of other network brands.
BIGGEST DEMAND FOR 2023: Will Paramount Global be able to cut costs without sacrificing investment in original content?
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Pennant: peacock
HIGHLIGHTS 2022: Soccer World Cups draw large crowds to Telemundo’s coverage.
LOWLIGHTS 2022: The sudden change of soap opera days of our lives from NBC; Day-and-date stream from Halloween ends it hit theaters simultaneously in October, a pandemonium that likely shaved millions off the box office over its opening weekend.
MAIN CHALLENGE FOR 2023: Growing subscriber numbers and rationale for expected increases in content spending. Peacock began business with just 18 million subscribers at the end of the year, although it’s fair to say that number has grown significantly over the past year as the company’s strategic focus shifted from the free basic tier to premium subscriptions .
BIGGEST DEMAND FOR 2023: Could parent Comcast seek to reach a higher level through a joint venture (say, with Paramount Global in Europe) or some other form of mergers and acquisitions?
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Pennant: Prime video
HIGHLIGHTS 2022: Original and live sports led by a large audience of viewers The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and the debut of exclusive NFL streams Thursday night football.
2022 LOW LIGHT: News that Jeff Blackburn, a 25-year company veteran and architect of Amazon’s streaming video strategy, will retire in January.
MAIN CHALLENGE FOR 2023: Blackburn’s departure will lead to some management shakeup at a time when the company is already struggling to integrate MGM.
BIGGEST DEMAND FOR 2023: How to track power rings with another series of events.
Author: father Hayes, Katie Campione
Source: Deadline
Joseph Fearn is an entertainment and television aficionado who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for what’s hot in the world of TV, Joseph keeps his readers informed about the latest trends and must-see shows.
