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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1476669
Big Winners - D2C Entertainment is Packed with Uncertain Growth By Andy Marken Since the first of the year, and increasingly throughout the summer, analysts have been wringing their hands about the problem with churn … subscribers who cancel or don't renew a streaming service subscription. The Netflix subscription dip early this year was relatively minor – 220K out of 220M – not good, but then they did drop an entire country’s subscribers and they guessed they would add 2.5M. Suddenly, the viability of the entire streaming industry was in question and the shares of every entertainment firm cratered. Churn is nothing new. Churn with cable/pay TV was very low but: • trying to get out of your cable agreement was “a challenge” • you seldom had a choice of another option with 500+ choices Mobile phone operators spend about $340 +/- million annually to get you as a customer with a “free” phone and long-term plan (again, tough to escape). The longer you stayed, the more their profits rise. Netflix started the streaming trend – sign up and cancel when you want. It worked beautifully until 2019 when everyone jumped in – Disney, WBD (Warner Bros Discovery), ViacomCBS (Paramount), Comcast NBC (Peacock)--200+ services around the globe.