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Media Giants Battle Significant Debt Following Pandemic Expansion

Photo by Tech Daily via Unsplash

Media Giants Battle Significant Debt Following Pandemic Expansion

By Movieguide® Contributor

Variety released its 2023 Media and Tech Trend Tracker report on March 1, showing the changes in the industry over the past year.

The report revealed that, while media and tech experienced some difficulties in 2022, 2023 has seen major growth so far, especially in companies like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.

However, these companies still have significant debts, which they “acquired during the economic expansion era.”

The company with the largest debt? Comcast, followed by Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney.

There have also been plenty of lay-offs in the industry, as companies cut a combined 41,000 jobs in January alone.

However, the U.S. labor market is strong at the moment, and many of those who have been laid off have quickly found new jobs.

The media and tech industry makes billions every year, with streaming services like Netflix, HBOMax, and Disney+ leading the pack of highest earners. Coming in second are delivery services like Amazon Prime followed by music streaming services.

In terms of in-app spending, streaming services top the chart again; they made a total of $7.2 billion last year. Dating apps brought in $5.9 billion, while video streaming apps took home $5.7 billion.

Variety also reports that, while inflation has caused many consumers to cut unnecessary costs in their lives, most see streaming services as “a necessity,” which is why Netflix, Spotify and other streaming platforms continue to do well.

However, Variety adds that economic uncertainty will impact consumer spending. 

“When savings run out, job losses mount and a recession hits, there will inevitably be an impact on consumption. If that happens, competition in the at-home entertainment market will skyrocket, and not all the subscription services can survive. There will be winners and losers,” the report adds. 

It concludes, “People will continue to spend, they will just be much more selective.” 

Movieguide® previously reported on the popularity of streaming platforms:

A new study found that households across the country are stacking up subscriptions to streaming services.

In their 14th Annual streaming study, Leichtman Research Group found that 78 percent of all households in the U.S. have a subscription to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Hulu.

The percentage continues to grow as years pass.

In 2018, 69 percent of people subscribed to a streaming service, while in 2015 the figure was only 52 percent.

The study also found that 55 percent of households have more than one of the streaming services mentioned above. That’s an increase from 43 percent in 2018 and 20 percent in 2015.

Other related findings that the group reported are that 55 percent of people ages 18-44 use a streaming service daily.

When including 12 other streaming services with the ones mentioned above, 82 percent of households have at least one services, while 49 percent have three or more.

Statistics about how streaming services are used are as follows:

55 percent of adults watch these services from “non-TV devices,” which includes mobile phones, computers, tablets, and eReaders.

44 percent of adults watch a streaming service on their mobile phone daily, an increase from 35 percent in 2018 and 20 percent in 2015.

To sum up the data, Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group, Inc. said:

“Nearly four-fifths of U.S. households now have a top SVOD service, and 40% of all adults stream an SVOD service daily, including over half of all ages 18-44. The adoption and use of these established SVOD services along with newer direct-to-consumer streaming video options have increased over the past year, spurred more recently by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.”

The data was collected from a survey of about 1,990 households across the U.S.


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