One of the few success stories during COVID-19, Netflix have been well-placed to meet viewer demands for content while stuck at home during the lockdown. As well as adding regular updates to its library, and seeing some unusual titles win large audiences, Netflix are consolidating their place as the leader of the online streaming platforms. The recent success of the service has now even translated into an all-time high for Netflix stocks, putting them above Disney.
The boom in streaming means that Netflix’s value is at $426.75 a share, resulting in a market capitalization of $187.3 billion, and putting it slightly ahead of Disney’s valuation of $186.6 billion. Netflix’s continued growth comes at a particularly competitive time for streaming, too, with Disney Plus already clawing out a big chunk of the subscriber market, and more big players like HBO Max on the way. All this runs against a minority opinion last month that the economic climate would result in Netflix actually suffering losses.
By contrast, Disney are struggling to deal with coronavirus-related problems on multiple fronts, including the closure of its theme parks and the loss of sports broadcasting. Disney Plus has, however, been a worldwide success, while Hulu is continuing to provide much-needed revenue at a time when Disney movies are unable to reach theaters. Netflix will now hope to build on its popularity with a new wave of content for May to continue its dominance in the streaming stakes.
In general, it appears that streaming companies are one of the few parts of the entertainment industry that are doing well, with losses across the board being significant. Amazon’s stocks are also up, with the company presumably also benefitting from a higher-than-usual demand for deliveries. And with the lockdown not showing any clear signs of ending, we’d imagine that Netflix and other subscription platforms will remain as one of the few bright sparks in an otherwise pretty bleak media landscape.
