Lessons learned from Netflix in the Max+ era

How badly did Wall Street misjudge Netflix? Investors dumped the stock for six months in 2021 and 2022 amid signs of slowing growth all at oncewhich wiped out more than $200 billion in market valuation and sparked an industry-wide collapse of streaming companies…only Netflix came roaring back.

In the end, the only company with the scale to emerge was Netflix. stronger, relatively speaking, from the streaming wars. Paramount is a shell of its former self. Comcast’s Peacock losses amounted to $3 billion for the year, more than triple what the company had previously expected.Disney reduced streaming losses to 500 million dollars In the most recent quarter, it had tens of billions of dollars in debt. Max is finally starting to turn a profit, but Warner Discovery remains $47.5 billion in debt.Meanwhile, Netflix is ​​growing again and recently updated its free cash flow outlook. 5 billion dollars For this year.

The simplest explanation for Netflix’s dominance is easy. At a time when TV content is being split among more than a dozen streamers, all of which are raising prices, Netflix offers the closest thing to a traditional cable bundle: licensed content, originals, and the same fun programming you know and are powered by data. We offer combinations. Bela Bajaria calls it a “gourmet cheeseburger.” All of this is powered by seamless technology to reach cost-conscious customers at scale. (Significantly, the only area where Netflix doesn’t have a foothold is sports. But unlike its competitors, Netflix executives are trying to counter with sports-adjacent documentaries such as quarterback and the recently released, chart-topping Beckham.)