As the competition for streaming platforms continues to grow, Netflix is having to defend its popularity amount audiences. According to the New York Times, Netflix loss 126,000 domestic subscribers earlier this year. However, Netflix was able to get those subscribers back according to the article. Author Edmund Lee explained, ”The third-quarter results benefited from Netflix’s best-known series, ’Stranger Things, ’ which introduced its hugely anticipated third season over the Fourth of July weekend. The series drew 64 million households in the first four weeks it was available, the company said.”
This was a big comeback for the company and not only helped them draw in more viewers but helped line Netflix’s pockets. Netflix’s stock jumped more than 8% in after-hours trading last week. In addition, the company also reported a large jump in profit from $665 million to $5.2 billion in revenue. This rise in profit follows the addition of 6.8 million new customers this quarter, with 520,000 of them in the United States. Netflix has big plans and big movies to help them beat the soon-to-come streaming platform competitors, Disney and Apple. Both of which plan to release their streaming platforms in November. As of now, Netflix is the nation’s largest digital television network, with over 158 million customers around the world, including 60 million in the United States.
Disney has been a very popular source of media for decades, creating family friendly stories and shows that has shaped childhoods throughout multiple generations. Disney has also bought a lot of media companies and the size of what they own is being added to their own streaming site, Disney+. Disney+ is a prime example of the issues with media convergence. Julia Alexander reported on Disney’s new “$12.99 bundle for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+”. The article discusses how Disney is buying up media, as they already own multiple large movie franchises and have stocks or ownership of 12 television channels. With Disney taking their own content away from HBO, Netflix and even Hulu, they have created a massive streaming source that will fight against competitors and the streaming platforms they have stock in. Alexander discussed how the “$12.99 bundle offers consumers tremendous volume, tremendous quality, and tremendous variety for a good price” (Alexander, 2019). For Disney to become this large of a content provider is staggering because they already touch so much in media. This convergence with other networks makes them untouchable by any competition, especially when they withhold the content they own. Disney is also dabbling in the sports realm, working with ESPN to ensure Disney+ is a one-stop-shop for the family and other viewers. The problem with Disney owning so much is there isn’t any diversity in their media. Having only one source of media creates a monopoly on what information and entertainment audiences receive. This poses a problem because Disney gets a say in anything that is affiliated with them. Touching so much of the media industry makes it very difficult for new content to come through because it must go through Disney first and if a creator’s content isn’t approved by Disney, it may never gain the popularity it deserves.
Current Issues In Media Management 