Sony becomes Hollywood’s most stable hand by skipping the streaming war

exist Karate boy,have Beautiful communication between The wise master Mr. Miyagi and Callow teenager Daniel Larusso, in which the beloved teacher helps his students realize that mastery does not always mean that a person must fight. That moment emphasizes the power of selective inaction – knowing that it is the most powerful move when you step away. Sony Pictures Entertainment, owner Karate boy Franchise, obviously keep this lesson in mind.
Hollywood incumbents like Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount and NBCuniversal have been raving about Netflix, but Sony’s Pictures opted not to participate in the streaming war. In a time of painful contraction, this prudence positioned the company as one of Hollywood’s more strategic and agile and relatively reasonable players.
Unlike Netflix (Pure Gaming Entertainment Streaming) or Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global, which relies heavily on movies and TV to drive its business, Sony Pictures is a part of the division. Bigger Sony. Last year, Sony’s Gaming and Internet Services segment revenues were about $24 billion (Hello PlayStation), followed by electronics and solutions (about $16.5 billion), financial services (about $9.6 billion) and music (about $9.1 billion). Sony Pictures (about $9 billion) was named the company’s fifth largest driving division, positioning it as a good asset, but not the backbone of the company. Since on-screen entertainment isn’t the only fate of the company, Sony can afford to be more patient than some of its traditional media competitors.
This shows the stock performance of each company over the past five years (August 5):
- Fox: +102% (News/Sports Highlights)
- Sony: +53%
- Disney: -9%
- Comcast: -24%
- WBD/Warnermedia: -40%
- Paramount Global: -55%
Sony’s shareholders return to the trail only Fox has also avoided expensive streaming wars (although the company will launch direct-to-consumer products this year). Streaming platforms won’t make money quickly. Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global did not reach steady flow until recently after its launch in 2020 and 2021. The company lost $1.5 billion in a quarter of streaming, at the end of 2022. NBCU’s Peacock has been lost $10 billion Since its launch in 2020, it has remained unprofitable. Even Netflix lost money for years as it swallowed up the share of the first-transfer market. Scrooge McDuck, Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark can’t have the amount of cash that bleeded like they did in the past five years.
Niche gambling animation has become its own streaming strategy
But just because Sony hasn’t invested in buffet-style streaming efforts doesn’t mean it’s ignoring the digital future. Replace Command the existence exist Growth medium. Since then, Crunchyroll has grown from 3 million subscribers to 17 million and has risen. More importantly, Sony has cultivated a market community that profits these customers Beyond monthly subscriptions. Streaming, live events, drama movies, games, consumer goods, collectibles, comic publishing – Crunchyroll provides fans with experiences in a variety of touch points.
By then, Sony recent get Game Company Bandai Namco’s stake is “a fan community focused on expanding IPs such as anime and comics around the world and strengthening engagement, especially in the anime sector where the market is expected to grow rapidly.” This may be a more niche than the one-stop model of Netflix and Amazon, but it’s impressive and scalable.
Outside of anime, Sony sells it to everyone, rather than hoarding its content on a single platform. Its dramatic movies are worth it at a price of 1 window deal to Netflix $1 billion. (a division of Sony Entertainment) has also worked with Netflix to shoot several original movies on animation streaming, such as the Oscar nomination Mitchell and the machine. KPOP Demon Hunter Now speeding up the player The most watched original animation feature ever). Sony also reached 2 window deals with Disney, which may be worth nine digits. These licensed transactions provide consistent revenue and cash flow that serve as a safety net for the studio.
Sony extensively licenses content and is profitable
Sony seems to use these revenues to reinvest more drama products. With the massive releases of large studios falling, and Hats recovered after hitting Hollywood’s box office, Sony has accelerated its pace of progress, as if nothing has changed. From 2010 to 2019, the studio offered an average of 16.6 width releases per year. From 2021 to the end of this year, an average of 17 widths will be issued each year. number.
In terms of exhibitions and distribution, the company has maintained its magnitude weapon while maintaining its pipeline value to Netflix, Disney and any international partners that may emerge. Even if Sony Pictures itself doesn’t drive the biggest domestic box office, the value of the library benefits from that steady output.
The small screen introduces another area where the company is just as prolific. Generate around Sony TV $3 billion In annual revenue, successful programs are produced for the entire television ecosystem. Seriously, almost every major platform and network has a notable contributor from Sony: Amazon (boy, , , , , Time round, , , , , Gen V); Apple TV+ (For all humans); CBS/Paramount+(Danger!, , , , , Wheel of Destiny); HBO (Our last one); Netflix (crown, , , , , Cobra Kai, , , , , Night Agent, , , , , Q);Peacock(Twisted metal); Disney+/hulu(Chicken skin);fox(defendant); ABC(Good doctor); NBC(blacklist). Although the third-party licensing market has opened again after years of internal mergers, most major companies sacrifice licensing revenue to retain the best and smartest programs of their own streaming.
Indeed, without competitive mass-market streaming services, Sony could lower its long-term cap. But thanks to the company’s diversified revenue stream, That discipline allowed it to evade the SVOD minefield and retain flexibility. In the case of strategic deployment, there is still a high value and safe ground in licensing and drama. In an era where false equivalence of scale equals success, Sony’s constraints may be its biggest asset.