With the streaming wars ramping up, it’s not only consumers of television that have to make tough decisions about the platforms they choose — but also the stars.
Disney (DIS) and Apple (AAPL) have joined the streaming battle, both launching their own services this month. Meanwhile, in the Spring 2020 WarnerMedia Entertainment — a division of AT&T's WarnerMedia (T) — will launch HBO Max, and NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast (CMCSA), will unveil its Peacock platform.
However, none of those services yet have the same reach as Netflix (NFLX)’s 158 million+ subscribers. The streaming giant is still adding subscribers, even if it’s not as quickly as Wall Street would like. It gained 6.8 million subscribers globally in its third quarter, just shy of the 7 million initially projected.
“You do want to make sure the largest group of people get to see your stuff,” actor and comedian Adam DeVine told Yahoo Finance in an interview this week.
DeVine is no stranger to Netflix. His comedy special, “Adam Devine: Best Time of Our Lives,” lives on the platform. He is also voicing the leader character of Sam-I-Am in Netflix’s original animated television series, “Green Eggs and Ham.”
DeVine chose Netflix because “I know I put stuff on there and it just blows up. I know millions of people will get to see it.”
The company is expecting to add another 7.6 million global subscribers in Q4 of 2019, but the streaming giant’s ability to fend off growing challenges from other platforms may complicate things.
Not ‘on your couch anymore’
The way in which people are watching television has changed and people “want to consume a lot of it,” said DeVine.
The cultural phenomenon of binge-watching content became popular with the rise of streaming services like Netflix, Amazon (AMZN) and Hulu — making it easier than ever to watch and share content.
"It's so easy to just watch [television] on the go,” said DeVine. “If it's in your pocket, and it's on a streaming platform, you can watch it on the subway, you can watch it in a car, you can watch it on a plane, you can watch it anywhere. You don't have to be at home on your couch anymore.”
While the House of Mickey may be new on the scene, it’s proving to be fierce competition for its rivals. Disney+ pulled in over 10 million subscribers on launch day alone, well above the 8 million analysts estimated by the end of 2019.
Despite pulling in a shocking number of subscribers, data analysis from Credit Suisse earlier this week showed that the launch of Disney+ had “little-to-no impact” on Netflix trends. It suggests that, at least for now, stars will continue to flock to the industry leader for their projects.
As an actor “you just want to put it on the platform that the most people will see,” said DeVine. “I think that's why people are kind of steering clear of cable platforms where they're just not getting the same amount of eyeballs that they used to.”
Sarah Smith is a Segment Producer/Booker at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @sarahasmith
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