Tuesday's Market Minute: Netflix Isn't Going Anywhere

Walt Disney Co DIS recently announced a slate of new content for Disney+, including nearly a dozen projects each for its tentpole franchises Star Wars and Marvel. This enormous breadth of content, plus its impressive backlog, has caused some analysts to call it Netflix’s main rival. Disney’s habit of keeping old projects in “the vault”, creating artificial scarcity, and the sheer amount it owns—including Hulu and ESPN—definitely sets it up as another streaming powerhouse.

However, as many have said before, consumers are willing to pay for more than one streaming service, and there are plenty of options right now. It’s how they differentiate themselves that’s important: what’s their big hit? What’s their hook? Netflix Inc NFLX spent over $15 billion on content last year, much of it original, and with the success of Enola Holmes, Queen’s Gambit, and other projects that set the internet buzzing, people may be likelier to stick with that subscription over, say, Apple TV+. Netflix’s stock was up yesterday despite Disney’s announcements, which I think could reflect that sentiment: don’t worry about the two on top, but the ones potentially squeezed out.

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