The New Age Television Giants (Netflix and Hulu) Are Surpassing Legacy Cable Companies

It’s official, new-age television companies such as Netflix and Hulu have surpassed cable and satellite companies in 2021. From a report made by Pew Research Center, in the United States alone, television viewers who use cable or satellite have sharply dropped from 76% in 2015 to just 56% in 2021. In just six years, the media entertainment industry has completely shifted to a new environment as more and more people are beginning to ‘cut the cord’ to join the online streaming hype.

In 2021, streaming giants Netflix and Hulu were able to earn billions. Netflix is reported to have accumulated a net income of $5.17 billion and while Hulu is still in the process of finalizing its net income statements, leading market research company eMarketer has listed in their projections that the Disney-owned company is set to earn a whopping $3.13 billion worth of US ad revenue by the end of 2021 — a 44% increase from their reported earnings in 2020. On the other hand, legacy cable companies namely Comcast (parent company of Xfinity) and Charter Communications (owner of Spectrum) have accrued substantial losses. 

Based on earnings reports, while Comcast has posted $5.4 million in video revenue in the fourth quarter, the company has lost 1.5 million subscribers in 2021 alone while experiencing a sharp 5% drop in stock valuation in December of last year. Charter Communications is following a similar downward trend amidst a $4.29 billion net income with losses of up to 58,000 pay-TV subscribers for the past year.

Cord-cutting is beginning to gain traction in the 2020s, experts are saying that the number of people canceling their cable subscriptions will reach 55 million in 2022. The rise of online streaming is due to cable TV being too expensive and the improvement in connectivity features among mobile phones and other smart devices which focus on application-based streaming services as one of their primary features. With loads of content available at the click of a button, people are finding streaming apps such as Netflix and Hulu a more convenient option compared to traditional cable TV. 

By Neil Gregorio

Neil Gregorio is a graduating university student who writes as a hobby; when he is away from the keyboard, he spends his time watching Japanese animated shows and jamming out to his favorite rock music.

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