Four years ago, Netflix faced a formidable challenge to its dominance. Competitors including Walt Disney and Warner Bros Discovery invested billions of dollars to chip away at Netflix’s market share by launching splashy shows on their own streaming services.
For a time, it seemed that Netflix was vulnerable. The company lost subscribers for two straight quarters in 2022 despite gargantuan spending, raising concerns that its growth had plateaued.
But the tide has turned. Netflix has managed to maintain its position as the leader in subscription streaming, with 260 million paying customers worldwide, far more than its direct competitors. Netflix added more than 13 million subscribers during the fourth quarter of the last financial year.
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As a result, many analysts have made a bold proclamation in recent months. The so-called streaming wars are over, they say. Netflix has won.
As evidence, they point to rival studios that are now licensing more of their programmes to Netflix, including HBO’s Six Feet Under and Insecure, after years of holding on to their big action movies and popular shows for their own platforms.
