The world’s six top content giants will hit a major spending landmark this year, according to research from Ampere Analysis.
Disney, Comcast, Google, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Netflix and Paramount will spend a forecast $126B on the content landscape this year, Ampere said. For the first time, this will account for more than half (50.6%) of the entire landscape, up from 46.8% in 2020 and 47.5% last year.
Disney is projected to remain the largest contributor to the global landscape, accounting for 14.4% of market share, or $35.8B spend, which was buttressed by the full acquisition of Hulu from Comcast at the start of this year. Comcast is in second place with a projected spend of $24.5B, followed by Google ($17.6B), WBD ($16.8B), Netflix ($16B) then Paramount ($15.1B). The latter two are set to swap positions this year as Netflix pushes hard on originals while Paramount slows.
Netflix is the top investor in global streaming, averaging a total of $14.5B in annual investment in original and acquired shows since the pandemic, with further growth expected in 2025 due to the acquisition of NFL and WWE rights. In total, almost one third ($40B) of overall spend is currently being spent on these six operators’ subscription streaming services, Ampere said.
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The milestone comes as these giants look to spend more beyond their own shores. Ampere revealed over the summer that Netflix and Amazon had for the first time ordered the majority of their titles from outside the U.S. across a quarter. The firm’s research published today backed up this finding, saying that despite production shutdowns caused by the writers’ and actors’ strikes, streamers have continued to support the production landscape by pivoting towards more global strategies. International programing accounted for 52% of Netflix’s spend and 40% of Paramount+’s in 2024, for example, Ampere said. At MIPCOM last week, there was much chatter around reduced spend on U.S. programing, as traditional players struggle in a difficult market.
While the six behemoths will “continue to account for the majority of spend” in the landscape, Ampere Research Manager Peter Ingram predicted that overall growth will plateau as companies look to refocus their output.” “This will include limiting commissioning volumes and prioritising strategic investments and profitability to counter the current challenges of the media market,” he added.
Ingram said “low level growth” is expected in the landscape more broadly this year following shocks such as the labor strikes.
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