Streaming wars drive media groups to spend $115bn on content
The top eight US media groups plan to spend at least $115bn on new movies and TV shows next year in pursuit of a video streaming business that loses money for most of them.
The huge investment outlays come amid concerns that it will be harder to attract customers in 2022 after the pandemic-fuelled growth of 2020 and 2021.
One entertainment executive called the planned expenditures, which the Financial Times calculated based on company disclosures and analyst reports, “mind boggling”. Including sports rights, the aggregate spending estimate rises to about $140bn.
“There is no turning back,” said media analyst Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson. “The only way to compete is spending more and more money on premium content”.
But most of the companies — including Walt Disney, Comcast, WarnerMedia and Amazon — are set to rack up losses on their streaming units, and subscriber growth has slowed in the past few quarters.