Many people don't know this, but the all-powerful streaming service Netflix started as a DVD rental company. The idea was simple. Just like now, you chose what to watch on a computer connected to the internet. The difference lies in what happened next: the movie was delivered to your home by mail, with return shipping already paid. It was 1998, and its CEO, Reed Hastings, could hardly have imagined that two decades later, the company that began with 30 employees would be spending billions of dollars on the production of series, films, and documentaries. Despite its massive debt and the emergence of more competitors, Netflix is ​​planning record spending for 2020. A veritable Netflix money-laden affair.
Netflix is ​​going to spend a lot of money. Specifically, around $17.300 billion this year alone on creating its own content, according to Deadline , based on predictions by Dan Salmon of BMO Capital Markets. It's worth noting that his analyses from previous years were quite accurate.
Netflix, which seems to have an endless supply of money, has now had five consecutive years of frenetic spending , and we're celebrating. The company invested just over $15.000 billion in 2019, $12.000 billion in 2018, and $8.900 billion in 2017. Let's not forget, it all started with a video rental store with a catalog of 925 DVDs.
One sentence sums up the whole thing. Netflix today is a company that, in addition to having the best selection of series, films, and documentaries, can afford to spend 160 million euros on Martin Scorsese's latest escapade, The Irishman.
The golden age of Don Dinero Netflix?
Besides the numbers, Netflix's recent catalog speaks volumes that something is changing. In the last quarter of 2019 alone, we were able to enjoy The Two Popes , The Irishman , Marriage Story , and the surprising Don't F**k with Cats . Not to mention slightly older gems like Bird Box, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and Roma . If we include series in the equation, things get out of hand: Mindhunter, The Witcher, The Crown, House of Cards, Stranger Things, Narcos … We'd have titles to scroll through for ages. And that's not the plan.
That said, let's not get carried away. Netflix's debt of over $13.000 billion is compounded by the so-called streaming wars , which are now, for sure, going to implode throughout 2020. Those who think there's no room for anyone else in this video-on-demand ecosystem (HBO, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus in March ) should brace themselves. In the United States, where the popular Hulu also operates, they're about to welcome HBO Max, Peacock (from NBC, the name alludes to the peacock in its logo), and Quibi. There are also rumors circulating about something called Sky.
How many platforms streaming fit in the market?
Techradar sums it up very well: In 2020 we'll learn how many streaming services are too many.
"Streaming TV used to be so much simpler. While having choice is often good for the consumer, whether that's the case here remains to be seen, even if it means having more great content than we can watch. The dominance of giants like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu puts your favorite shows in a finite number of places. In 2020, if you want to see everything in the US, it's just going to cost you more money."
TechRadar
Twenty years ago in the United States, pushing the status quo to its limits meant being able to ask the mailman for The Big Lebowski . If we never imagined such a repertoire of companies desperate for us to choose them to press play , perhaps today we're still not in a position to foresee the landscape that awaits us. A few days ago, Vox published an article that might offer a clue: 25% of Netflix viewers on iPhone also watch Disney+.
What if the answer to this war is that there need be no war? Is there really cake for everyone? Is there really time to see it all?
Consume, devour everything. What chapter are you going for? A new premiere every day. No time to assimilate. Screens wherever you look. Eat and don't look back.