Who Is Winning the Streaming Wars: Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, HBO Max, and Other Services?

 An overview of streaming in 2018 and what to expect in 2023.

ILLUSTRATOR WARREN ESPEJO

Any large gathering with family, friends, or coworkers these days ultimately devolves into conversation about what everyone is watching on television. While the vast majority of viewers in the nation still choose free TV, streaming services have undoubtedly had an impact on Filipinos' viewing preferences, particularly in the last two years.

The pandemic played a significant role. By the end of 2021, 6.4 million Filipinos had subscribed to a video streaming service, according to Statista. The number could only have risen in the previous year.

Additionally, Statista predicts that, as of April 2022, more than 98 percent of Filipino internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 used a video streaming subscription service.

According to Statista, "Such media service platforms gained popularity because to their affordable and accessible content, thus changing the way most internet users consume digital information."

But with so many video streaming services available, we ask whether one is really "winning."

We examine the streaming market based on four variables: market share, subscriber count, revenue, and content.

Market share

                                                                           PHOTO BY WARREN ESPEJO.

It should come as no surprise that the first on-demand video service, Netflix, led streaming in the Philippines, according to Statista, with a commanding 31 percent market share. Iflix came in second with 21 percent. The last place finishers are Amazon Prime Video (14%) followed by HBO Go (9%), Viu (8%), and hayu (7%), with another 10% going to Others, which probably comprises somewhat obscure or smaller providers like Vivamax, Lionsgate Play, Apple TV+, and Discovery+.

But bear in mind that the information is only current as of the first quarter of 2022. Disney Plus, which officially arrived in the nation in November 2022, was thus not yet taken into consideration.

Number of subscribers

As of the third quarter of 2022, Netflix reported having 223.09 million customers, still leading the pack globally.

But keep in mind that Netflix's admission that it had actually lost a few thousand subscribers—from 221.64 million to 220.67 million in the second quarter of 2022—was the great streaming story of the previous year. It was the first time in the previous ten years that Netflix recorded a decline in subscription numbers.

By the third quarter, Netflix was able to stop that decline, ostensibly as a result of two significant changes to its subscription model: the introduction of a cheaper but ad-supported subscription tier and a crackdown on password sharing, both of which probably encouraged more people to sign up for the service.

In second position is Amazon Prime Video, which in its most recent shareholder letter from 2022 stated that there were 200 million subscribers worldwide.

With 164.2 million subscribers as of 4Q 2022, an increase of 12 million from 152.1 million subscribers the previous quarter, Disney Plus is ranked third. The number of subscribers to Disney Plus in the nation since it became available in this country in November 2022 has not yet been made public.

However, it's fascinating to note that, with 235.7 million users, Disney claimed last year that it had surpassed Netflix as the service with the most customers worldwide. To be clear, they also included the subscribers from two additional streaming services, Hulu and ESPN, which are frequently combined in global markets. In addition, ESPN is ranked seventh with 24 million subscribers, and Hulu, which is not yet available in the Philippines, is ranked fifth with 46 million.

HBO Max, which is available in the Philippines as HBO Go, came in fourth with 92 million subscribers. Paramount Plus, which is unavailable in the Philippines unless you use a VPN, came in sixth with 43 million subscribers, and Peacock, which is also not yet available in the Philippines, came in eighth with 13 million subscribers.

Earnings

Investors' attention was focused on attracting new customers when it came to Netflix (see above), but it also reported solid revenue numbers. Netflix reported global revenues of $7.93 billion, up 5.9 percent year over year as of 3Q 2022 (the most recent statistics available), but net income dropped to $1.4 billion.

Disney's streaming service reportedly generated $7.4 billion in revenue in 2022, an increase from $5.2 billion in 2021 and $2.8 billion in 2020. Despite the fact that the powers-that-be aim for Disney Plus to be profitable as early as 2024, Disney Plus hasn't actually generated a profit for the company as a whole.

Business observers believe Amazon is just utilising its streaming service to get new users to join up for its main money-making machine, Prime, whereas Apple TV+ and Prime Video are somewhat of an oddity. Even said, Prime Video has amassed some pretty remarkable stats over the years and is certainly no slouch. There is no precise information on how much money Amazon Prime Video makes for the business, although estimates place the figure at least $30 billion annually. Huge sums, but to put them in perspective, Amazon as a whole posted net sales of $127.1 billion in just the third quarter of 2022.

Revenues for HBO as a whole increased by 27% to $7.1 billion in 2021 from $6.7 billion the previous year. And according on this report, a sizable portion of money comes from HBO Max, its streaming service.

Content

This is when things start to become fascinating and complicated. When comparing the content that each provider produces, it might be difficult to determine who is exactly winning the streaming wars. Just looking at the figures, Netflix appears to be in the lead once more. According to a Forbes story from October 2022, Netflix alone delivered 1,024 original TV episodes in the third quarter of 2022. It stated that the number is more than five times that of any other streaming service and cited a study by the research firm MoffettNathanon. In contrast, Hulu had 194, Disney+ had 140, and HBO Max had 114 episodes. Amazon Prime Video had 223 episodes.

How about in terms of excellence? HBO is outperforming the competition if the Emmys, the most esteemed organisation that bestows prizes on the television business, are used as a benchmark. Since at least 2019, HBO has consistently received the most Emmy nominations of any streaming service.

Netflix finished in second with 105 nominations in 2022, trailing only the studio that produces Game of Thrones and Succession, which had a total of 140 nominations. Hulu came in third with 58, Apple Tv+ came in second with 51, then came Amazon Prime Video with 30, and Disney+ came in last with 34.

Noting how much the streamers have been spending on content over the past few years is also important. According to estimates, Netflix spent nearly the same amount on content in 2022—$17 billion (and most likely the same amount this year). The money went to popular shows like the latest seasons of Bridgerton, Stranger Things, and Ozark in addition to more recent shows like Inventing Anna and Wednesday, which Netflix claimed had amassed one billion hours of viewing in just its first month.

However, Disney's content budget dwarfs Netflix's, rising from $24 billion in 2018 to an estimated $33 billion in 2022, according to various projections.

Amazon Prime Video spent $13 billion on video and music content in 2021, and it is projected that it spent $15 billion in 2022, including the nearly $715 million it spent on the now-record-breakingly pricey TV show Rings of Power.

HBO, on the other hand, stated earlier in 2022 that it anticipated spending roughly $18 billion on content in the previous year. However, this sum is dispersed among HBO and HBO Max, CNN, and Warner Bros. Studio.

The real winner?

Who is actually winning the streaming battles, therefore, given all of this? We want to argue that with these businesses competing for our valuable commitment (and money) to join up (and not cancel our memberships), we, the consumers and subscribers, are eventually winning, but that may be a bit premature.

According to insiders, all of the major streamers, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO Max, are restructuring their operations and capping spending in 2023 in an effort to ultimately turn their companies into viable enterprises rather than simply extremely popular ones. (Recall how Westworld and the Batgirl movie were cancelled by Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav?)

That suggests that we may be witnessing the end of streamers' practise of throwing money at everything to see what sticks and the beginning of spending that is more cautious and conservative. After all, rather than us, the viewers, these businesses will ultimately have to answer to their owners and investors.