Variety: Six Biggest Companies to Spend Record $126 Billion on Content in 2024, up 9%, Led by Disney

Story from Variety:

Despite market challenges in TV and film production, the six biggest global content companies — led by Disney — are projected to increase spending in aggregate by 9% in 2024, to a record $126 billion.

That estimate comes from a new report by U.K.-based research firm Ampere Analysis. The spending across the six companies — Disney, Comcast, Google, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix and Paramount Global — will reach a new high in 2024 and account for 51% of the total content spending landscape, up from 47% in 2020, according to Ampere.

Disney remains the largest contributor to the media landscape, expected to represent 14% of global investment in TV and film content in 2024. The Mouse House is projected to boost content spending this year to $35.8 billion, up about 27% from $28.3 billion in 2023, per Ampere. Disney’s full acquisition of Hulu has added $9 billion to Disney’s spend total, according to the researcher.

For full-year 2024, Disney is followed by Comcast/NBCUniversal with a projected $24.5 billion in spending. The others are Google at $17.6 billion, Warner Bros. Discovery at $16.8 billion, Netflix at $16.0 billion and Paramount at $15.1 billion.

That said, Netflix is the top investor in global streaming content, having averaged $14.5 billion in annual spending in original and acquired programs since the pandemic. Ampere anticipates further growth in Netflix’s content spending in 2025 through the acquisition of sports rights for NFL games and WWE’s “Monday Night Raw.”

In total, $40 billion of the projected $126 billion on content spending by the six companies is currently spent on their subscription streaming services (including Disney+, Peacock, Max and Paramount+). Amid production shutdowns caused by the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, streamers have continued to support the production landscape by “pivoting towards more global strategies,” according to Ampere.

For example, international (non-U.S.-originating) programming accounts for 52% of Netflix’s spend in 2024 and 40% of Paramount+’s. Such content is typically cheaper to produce and “effective in motivating new and niche audiences to subscribe to a platform,” according to the researcher.

Original content spend remains the leading spend type across these providers, accounting for more than $56 billion in investment and 45% of their total spending since 2022, per Ampere.

“We can expect that the content landscape will see low-level growth in 2024 as production schedules recover from disruptions caused by the pandemic and the writers’ and actors’ union strikes,” said Peter Ingram, research manager at Ampere Analysis. Looking ahead, though, “overall growth will plateau as companies look to refocus their output.” Ingram expects that to include limiting commissioning volumes and prioritizing strategic investments and profitability “to counter the current challenges of the media market.”

Ampere noted that Google is different from the other five companies in its analysis. The internet giant’s contribution to the content market comes via YouTube, and investment in programming through its revenue-sharing arrangements with content creators.

At the same time, YouTube continues to build its global presence through partnership deals with major content owners, including through its YouTube TV pay-TV service and its deal for the NFL’s Sunday Ticket football package.