Netflix Is America's Greatest Media Company

Media

Published: January 24, 2024 9:45 am

Mega media conglomerates, struggling with legacy properties, can take a step back. After decades of dominance, their primacy is over. Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) has become the premier media company in the world. Its latest earnings prove that.

Netflix added 13.1 million subscribers compared to the same quarter a year ago. This was well above expectations and the largest increase since people were shut in during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was even though Netflix killed password sharing. However, it may be that people who could not share passwords moved to paid subscriptions.

Netflix also offered that advertising running in-stream would be a growing source of revenue. Amazon, Google and Facebook dominate the digital marketing industry. However, Netflix has a large enough audience that it could be a force in the sector.

One argument insists that the streaming industry has become saturated. Netflix management says otherwise: “We believe there is plenty of room for growth ahead as streaming expands, and our north star remains the same: to thrill members with our entertainment.” With revenue of $8.8 billion in the most recent quarter, Netflix posted an improvement of 12% year over year. Per-share earnings were $2.11, compared to $0.12 a year ago. (These 25 American industries are booming.)

The Also-Rans

There are several large streaming services in an industry that may not have room for all of them. This may not be because of market saturation but because consumers may not be willing to have half a dozen or more services simultaneously. Other than Netflix, the company best positioned to succeed long-term is Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Amazon Prime is bundled with a set of services that Amazon offers, which includes free shipping and space product sales. Prime members are several times more likely to shop at Amazon than people who are not. Prime, therefore, cannot be considered a standalone product.

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (NASDAQ: WBD), Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA), Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are in the tier below Netflix and Amazon. Apple does not break out results for its Apple TV+, but it is a tiny fraction of the company’s total. For the media companies, streaming is core to their growth. However, each one loses money on the business.

As a proxy of how investors view legacy media companies versus Netflix, note that Netflix has a market cap of $235 million while Warner Bros. Discovery’s is $25 billion.

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