Yesterday, during the conference of the Royal Television Society, in Cambridge, England, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, had a participation where he took the opportunity to talk about what is coming in the video streaming industry, where new and new ones will arrive in the coming months aggressive bets like the case of Disney + and Apple TV +.
Hastings said the arrival of Disney and Apple platforms will bring a “completely new world” of competition, which could raise production costs, as all companies will seek to create original content. Here he took the opportunity to refer to his series ‘The Crown‘, which has a budget of more than 100 million dollars per season, mentioning that “one day ‘The Crown’ will seem like a bargain.”
Netflix shares continue to fall
The reality is that Netflix is having a complicated 2019 , where the recent rise in prices in its plans and its loss of subscribers in the US, have done nothing but put it in the spotlight by questioning if it is adopting the right strategy when investing So much money in original series.
Now with the approaching onslaught, which starts later this year with Apple TV + on November 1 and Disney + on the 17th of the same month, the CEO seems to be aware that they will face one of their biggest challenges, or at least So lets see in your comments and statements.
In addition to Disney and Apple, and now with the recent announcement of ‘ Peacock ‘, the NBCUniversal streaming service that will arrive in the United States in April 2020, Hastings said “it will be a tough competition, where consumers will now have many options” .
“Although we have been competing with many people in the last decade, we are about to reach a whole new world that will begin in November … with the launch of Apple and Disney and, of course, the growth of Amazon.”
After these statements, yesterday the company’s shares closed 6% below their initial value, but even fell to 7%. This left Netflix with an assessment that was not seen nine months ago. And it is that the market is nervous, where although Hastings mentions that the arrival of these services “will increase the competitive intensity of the sector”, investors still do not decide which horse to bet on.
Add to this the recent comments of analyst Todd Juenger, who predicted that Netflix shares could fall by up to 20% in the coming months, this based on investors’ perception that Disney + and Apple TV + will steal attention after launch.
And it is that what attracts investors right now is the aggressive, and even careful, offer of Disney and Apple, who will bet on low prices and low quality content, according to perception. Here we must remember that Disney + will cost $ 6.99 per month, which also comes with extremely attractive promotions and bundles, while Apple TV + will be priced at $ 4.99 per month. That is, well below the $ 12.99 of the standard Netflix plan, which also offers only HD quality for two devices.
The war of streaming is about to begin, and in the coming months it will be interesting to see if the competition focuses more on the quality of the content or on a price war with the aim of winning subscribers.