According to a report by Dataxis analyst Guillaume Perrin, NBCU lost nearly 1 billion dollars in the last quarter in its direct-to-consumer business. Paramount and Warner Bros. The finding also revealed serious losses of around $2 billion each by 2022.
Finally, Disney reported losses of more than $4 billion on its D2C business last year. Under these results, and in a difficult global economic environment, the last 3 cost-cutting measures have already been announced, imposing on workers, reducing the huge expenditure of content, and withdrawing films and old series from the platforms, and growth. at subscription prices.
For example, Disney plans to save $3 billion in programming costs (excluding games) by 2023. Under investor pressure to reduce deficits, SVOD operators will have to make important strategic decisions to overcome hitherto unnecessary career barriers.
Comcast has a great deal on Xumo
In January, Comcast announced that the free Peacock option would be closed to new users. This may seem surprising, since the ad-supported option appears to be a major source of revenue in the United States. New users can choose between Pavo Premium and Premium Plus, which cost $4.99 and $9.99 per month respectively. Encouraging people to actually pay for Peacock is a good start for Comcast to draw blood.
Comcast also stopped giving free Peacock Premium to Cox subscribers in January, and it should roll out to Xfinity customers in the coming months. Comcast expects a reasonable portion of Cox and Xfinity customers to choose to pay for Peacock Premium now that they don’t have free access. But the free-to-band ending doesn’t mean Comcast has decided to lean against the wind and forgo the speed opportunity that most media and technology companies have recently embraced. In other words, this motive is more indicative of Comcast’s willingness to crown Xumo as its pinnacle powerhouse and Peacock to keep its SVOD platform. In the highly competitive streaming landscape, brand and service differentiation can’t hurt.
Also last November, Comcast announced that its Smart TVs (made by Hisense) and streaming devices (made in partnership with Charter) will be based on the Xumo interface and branding. This is similar to the main strategy of OEMs fighting for the very competitive TVOS market, which have all developed a fast device in the middle of their operating system: Samsung with Samsung TV Plus, LG with LG Channels, or Vidaa with Vidaa Free.
Warner Bros. Finding the right way
For its part, Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly plans to maintain Discovery+ as a standalone streaming service in the US, rather than merging it with HBO Max into one platform. This shift in strategy is illustrated by the fact that subscribers to the lower-cost Discovery+ platform prefer to leave rather than sign up for a more expensive package. It makes sense, but it also raises the question of the difficulty of transitioning, which could be the availability of WBD, which will require users and the market to install another platform in an already saturated industry.
The cost savings resulting from the merger are unquestionable (as illustrated by the comparatively low $214 million EBITDA loss in Q4 2022), but the potential success of the two bus platforms, which have experienced less growth, is undeniable. In fact, HBO Max struggled to gain subscribers when WBD pulled it from Amazon’s channels, before another 180-degree move (according to the failure of CNN Plus) last December reinstated HBO Max as an Amazon service. To help market the new platform, WBD has decided to quickly launch channels in partnership with Tubi and Roku, using content removed from HBO Max, in a cost-saving move.
It’s a question that all streaming operators are desperately trying to answer as to what consumers want and what they’re willing to pay. The safety of working professionals could be readily available to create a more targeted value proposition and differentiation, although they may have in-depth content libraries or files. The example of the Disney bundle (with Hulu, ESPN+, and Disney+) is a good way to illustrate the benefits of bundles in reducing twists, offering different types of catalogs at lower prices. But streamers need to be careful and ensure that combined services do not affect too many different consumer segments, both in terms of content and price expectations.
Bundles with wireless and/or cable carriers (such as HBO Max with AT&T, or Peacock with Comcast) have become a common phenomenon in recent years. Therefore, the grouping between platforms spread from different ecosystems can be the next step to finally strengthen the market. It should be a logical way to stop the big media companies from being dependent on subscribers and tweets, and put the power back in their hands.
