Market share of SVOD platforms in the U.S. 2024

In the second quarter of 2024, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix were the most popular subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services in the United States with market shares of 22 percent, based on the users' interest in adding content to their watch lists of certain streaming platforms. Max followed with a market share of 14 percent. 

Subscription streaming market – a money-losing business?

While subscription streaming platforms increased their subscriber bases in the years 2020 and 2021 due to the measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2022 and 2023 saw services such as Netflix and Disney+ lose a substantial number of customers. Furthermore, the direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses of large media companies are struggling to turn a profit. Disney, for example, reported a loss of 2.5 billion U.S. dollars for its streaming services in 2023. 

Streaming companies take action

In order to compensate for subscriber and income losses, streaming companies implemented several strategies, such as launching more profitable ad-supported tiers, cracking down on credential sharing, laying off thousands of employees, and spending less on content. The Walt Disney Company was already able to increase DTC profits recently and predicted to achieve profitability by the end of 2024. Its cost-cutting measures include layoffs and savings in content spending by reducing content produced and removing TV shows and movies from its streaming services.