• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, May 2, 2024

Netflix is in that unusual and strong position, compared to nearly all the streamers out there. Recently it said it would stop releasing subscriber data.

Tangentially, we might also include Amazon Prime Video and even Apple TV+, which have strong balance sheets as large digital companies.

Those companies do not disclose their specific subscriber data. We probably then need to focus on those legacy TV-movie based companies and their streamers.

Right now, globally, Netflix has 236.6 million subscribers, while Prime Video has 200 million (according to estimates), followed by Disney+ at 149.6 million; Max has 97.7 million; Paramount +, 71 million; Hulu, 49.7 million; Peacock 31 million; and Apple TV+ with 25 million (estimated).

AMC Networks' AMC+ has 11.8 million subscribers.

Those legacy media-owned streamers (Disney+, Max, Paramount+, Hulu, Peacock, and AMC+) need to focus on selling their growth to investors with the sales pitch that they are growing enterprises with great content coming their way.At the same time, for consumers, it needs to tout all this comes at a reasonable low price. 

And this all needs to happen while these services continue to struggle to find other ways to cut costs and achieved steady profitability. 

Factor in another hurdle: A more mature streaming market where consumers may be increasing their “churn” -- turning off their streamers, waiting for their favorite shows to return with a new season of shows, or hopefully expanding their TV show regular viewing lineup.

While Peacock is at the bottom of the list, it is part of a much larger diversified company -- Comcast Corp., which not only owns NBCUniversal, but also a massive broadband video/network bundling product. That helps -- but only to an extent.

Just a day ago, Peacock announced price hikes: Peacock Premium (the limited ad-supported option) will rise in price by $2 per month to $7.99, while Premium Plus will move up by $2 to $13.99. 

Peacock still believes that at this level -- from a competitive perspective -- it is still a good consumer deal, especially when it comes to increasingly including big sports events including "Sunday Night Football," Premier League European football, golf, rugby, cycling and motorsports.

One main question then: How many new subscribers will sign on to Peacock -- not for its entertainment programming -- but mostly for its sports content? 

Are there subscriber numbers ready for release that will show that?