Netflix, YouTube and Tubi Are Reasons for Optimism in Hollywood ...

For context, the cable networks business is one of the most profitable industries in the U.S.; it represents the vast majority of major media companies’ profits; traditional TV networks revenue growth is, for the first time, stagnating; and traditional TV is far larger than the streaming market — roughly $100 billion in TV network affiliate fees an... See more

There is a lot of excitement about traditional TV companies transitioning to streaming, but an unavoidable conclusion is that the streaming business is structurally much less profitable than traditional TV.

Which partly explains why Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has been widely quoted as saying that he’s more concerned with the competitive risk of massively networked, interactive experiences like Epic Games’s Fortnite than Hulu or HBO Max or any other traditional broadcaster.

After announcing financial results for a difficult quarter, in which Netflix lost subscribers for the first time in a decade, Mr. Hastings told investors on Tuesday that the company planned to look into a lower-priced tier supported by ads “over the next year or two.”