Warner Bros. Discovery Is First to Have This Streaming "Aha" Moment, but It Won't Be the Last
When Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) began its streaming operations 15 years ago, studios were happy to license their movies and TV programs to the then-quirky startup. After all, much of this content wasn't being meaningfully monetized at the time, if it was being monetized at all.
A funny thing happened over the course of the next several years, though. As Netflix established the success of the business model, more studios began monetizing more of their intellectual property by launching their own streaming platforms. For example, the bulk of Walt Disney's (NYSE: DIS) library is reserved exclusively for Disney+ subscribers. Elsewhere, Paramount (NASDAQ: PARA) isn't interested in letting competing studios air its very best stuff, such as Star Trek, newer episodes of Yellowstone, or any of Yellowstone's spinoffs.
That's turning into a problem. There's not enough pricing power -- and subsequently not enough profit -- for studios to limit most of their own content to their own streaming platforms. For perspective, Disney's direct-to-consumer arm lost more than $1 billion during the quarter that ended in December. Paramount's streaming business is still losing money as well.
Source Fool.com
