Op-ed: Apps promised to free us from ad-supported subscription bundles. Oops!

For a moment, it seemed like the streaming apps were the things that could save us from the hegemony of cable TV—a system where you had to pay for a ton of stuff you didn’t want to watch so you could see the handful of things you were actually interested in.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/K4EIh

    • shagie@programming.dev
      11·
      1 year ago

      https://www.axios.com/2023/08/09/disney-earnings-streaming-profits

      Disney also managed to narrow its streaming division losses significantly to last quarter to $512 million from $1.06 billion during the same quarter the year prior.

      That progress should give investors hope that Disney is on track to meet its stated goal of making its streaming business profitable by 2024.

      https://www.businessofapps.com/data/disney-plus-statistics/

      Disney Plus generated $7.4 billion revenue in 2022, an 42% increase year-on-year

      They’re getting better and have a lot of other revenue that they can use to offset those losses while they figure out how to do streaming more profitably.

      All of the following statements can be true simultaneously:

      • There is a lot of revenue (note revenue and not profits) associated with streaming content
      • Studios are losing money with streaming
      • Actors and writers are being paid much less for residuals of streamed content than would be considered fair
        • shagie@programming.dev
          5·
          1 year ago

          I am making sure that if someone else reads it who doesn’t know or wasn’t sure if I used the words properly that the up front clarification would avoid them asking and then waiting a day or so to get a response that clarifies their question. While you and I may be familiar with it, there are also high schoolers who are reading this who are less familiar with accounting terms and their specific meanings.

    • Zapp@beehaw.org
      3·
      1 year ago

      All great points. That said, no one should feel sympathy for Disney’s profit margins.

      They can and should spend less on anti-piracy measures to become more profitable.

      And Disney could be 100% profit, overnight, while paying their actors and writers handsomely, if they just license their content to a streaming service that knows what they are doing.

      • can@beehaw.org
        3·
        1 year ago

        They can and should spend less on anti-piracy measures to become more profitable.

        You mean by making a better service?

      • acastcandream@beehaw.org
        2·
        1 year ago

        I’m not sure where you got the impression this was designed to elicit sympathy. I was just saying that it is incorrect to say they are making a lot of money/the model of financial success in streaming lol

        • Zapp@beehaw.org
          3·
          1 year ago

          Fair enough. I’m just getting a little tired of our monopolist companies buying every competitor while burning through venture capital and then claiming they need to raise prices to “survive”.