Yes, most content producers have the same problem but few have to maintain the pace Netflix needs to keep users subscribed to a unlimited platform.
Disney has a very strong and very culturally defining position. They are also more diversified and generate cashflow from multiple sources. Disney+ is also mostly content that has already been "paid for" by either box office sales or licensed merchandise.For example, selling Star Wars toys is very profitable and makes the movies even more profitable. The box office sales usually also more than pay for their production costs.
Netflix does not have any other source of revenue, is totally dependant on month to month subscriptions and has to compete with decades of already made and paid for content that it's competitors can and will often chose not to license to Netflix.
To finance that huge catalog they basically took a mortgage on all of their future subscription revenue. Disney can afford to lose all of it's disney+ subscribers as long it's movies are still watched and its parks still visited. It can lose a revenue stream and still be alive
As for HBO, it's owned by ATT and usually has "premium" content. ATT can also afford a few bad years for HBO but the same would be a death sentence for Netflix. I guess my point is that netflix has almost no room for error, it bet everything on never not growing.
What's really going to be interesting for Netflix and for food delivery apps is what will happen once the lockdowns end and when we get back to normal. Will people still have things left to watch that appeals to them after so much free time? Will food delivery stay popular?
Netflix and the traditional studios are almost opposites in how they make money from content. Netflix has profitable streaming that subsidizes content creation. Disney/HBO have profitable content creation (with risk mitigated by other business divisions) and that subsidizes streaming.
So with production/sports halted by COVID for everyone, and streaming rising, Disney is getting hit by a perfect storm, while Netflix managed to catch some breathing room.
Traditional film production companies seem much more like the model you're accusing Netflix of. Gotta keep churning out films and hoping you make money in box office. Then the value of the goods approaches zero very quickly.
Disney has a very strong and very culturally defining position. They are also more diversified and generate cashflow from multiple sources. Disney+ is also mostly content that has already been "paid for" by either box office sales or licensed merchandise.For example, selling Star Wars toys is very profitable and makes the movies even more profitable. The box office sales usually also more than pay for their production costs.
Netflix does not have any other source of revenue, is totally dependant on month to month subscriptions and has to compete with decades of already made and paid for content that it's competitors can and will often chose not to license to Netflix. To finance that huge catalog they basically took a mortgage on all of their future subscription revenue. Disney can afford to lose all of it's disney+ subscribers as long it's movies are still watched and its parks still visited. It can lose a revenue stream and still be alive
As for HBO, it's owned by ATT and usually has "premium" content. ATT can also afford a few bad years for HBO but the same would be a death sentence for Netflix. I guess my point is that netflix has almost no room for error, it bet everything on never not growing.
What's really going to be interesting for Netflix and for food delivery apps is what will happen once the lockdowns end and when we get back to normal. Will people still have things left to watch that appeals to them after so much free time? Will food delivery stay popular?