Netflix is plunging as competition in streaming video heats up
Netflix is plunging as more as more players enter the streaming video game. The company is down 4.86% to $178.22 on Monday.
On Monday, FX Networks, the maker of hits like "The Americans" and "Atlanta," announced it would start selling FX+, an ad-free on-demand service, for $5.99 a month. The service is similar to streaming services like Netflix or Amazon Prime but is sold through a customer's existing cable TV company. It's accessed through the on-demand section of the customer's cable package, or through FX's existing FX Now app.
The move is part of a larger trend by content producers to lessen their reliance on big streaming services like Netflix.
CBS started its "All Access" streaming service in 2014, but recently promoted it by placing all but the first episode of the network's highly anticipated "Star Trek: Discovery" show behind the paywall of its streaming service. The company is trying to grow its streaming platform and it is trying to use the massive Star Trek fan base to do so.
Disney also announced it would be starting its own streaming service for its movies and TV shows. The service is expected to be launched in 2019 after its current contract with Netflix ends. Netflix shares fell after Disney announced the new service.
All these moves point toward an industry that is pulling back from Netflix. The number of streaming video platforms is almost too many to count now, and those platforms are starting to produce more and more award-winning content. Hulu made headlines when its "The Handmaid's Tale" won the top prize at the Emmy Awards earlier this month.
Netflix is continuing its own push into more original content it wholly owns instead of licensing shows that it eventually loses the exclusive rights to. The company made its first ever acquisition in pursuit of that goal by purchasing Millarworld, a cult comic book studio.
Analysts have said good content is the best driver of subscriber growth for Netflix, and the trend of studios pulling their content into siloed services means Netflix won't be able to rely on others as much in the future.
Netflix shares are up 39.63% this year.
