Iger: Linear TV Near A 'Great Precipice,' Tough Future For Streamers

by Wayne Friedman , September 8, 2022

Not all big media-based streamers will make it, says Bob Iger, former chief executive officer of Walt Disney, speaking at the Code 2022 Conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

“I don’t think all streamers are created equal. I don't believe all streamers that are in it today will survive.” He did not name specific companies.

Soaring, ever-higher TV and movie production costs continue to be a major factor, according to many analysts.

On the flip side, Iger likened the chances of Netflix and Disney+ -- the former because of its dominant position, and the latter mostly due to all the intellectual property it owns.

Iger also noted that Netflix and Disney+ have good opportunities partly because of their decisions to offer lower, consumer-priced, ad-supported streaming alternatives.

At the same time, he said, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video could make a go of it because of their “deep pockets.”

Iger highlighted Apple TV+ in particular. He consulted with Apple earlier on in its process for its streaming business. “I thought it would take a long time. They have done better than I expected them to do because it wasn't a business they were in at all.”

Prospects for linear TV distribution will continue to steadily sink.

“Linear TV -- cable and satellite -- is marching in a constant direction of great precipice. And it's going to be pushed off. A lot of people subscribe to cable and satellite television today because of certain programming but also because of habit and complacency."

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3 comments about "Iger: Linear TV Near A 'Great Precipice,' Tough Future For Streamers".

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Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, September 8, 2022 at 1:42 p.m.
"Steadily sink"? Who could have seen this coming? I imagine TvB will have a way to spin the future.
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Michael Mongelluzzo from Captivate replied, September 8, 2022 at 1:49 p.m.

Exaclty Doug....cue Ed Papazian.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, September 8, 2022 at 3:39 p.m.

Douglas, if you've been following the dialog for the past four years or so, it's been obvious that "linear TV" is scaling down and that streaming is rising as a means for getting access to TV content. Our own predictions call for linear to drop to about 50% penetration, counting both "pay TV" and over-the air reception, but as these people watch much more TV than streamers their heavy viewing penchant will offset some of the loss in coverage---generating lots of GRPs to sell. It's also pretty obvious that linear TV---with its audience measurements, its program content and its ad messages is supplanting the original streaming "haven" for those, like you, who profess to hate all commercials. Sorry, but increasingly, streaming will look just like evil, old, linear. By the way, I wonder what Iger thinks of the way that Netflix is handling its AVOD launch? I'll bet that he's a very happy camper about that.