This chart shows how absurdly complicated Netflix's competitive landscape has become
It used to be when you talked about streaming video, you were talking about Netflix and Hulu.
But in the past few years, and especially 2015, the competitive landscape has become increasingly convoluted. Analysts at Jefferies have identified five major themes that have emerged in the market:
- Netflix competitors (like Hulu and Amazon Prime)
- Premium over-the-top offerings (like HBO Now, Showtime, and Starz)
- Niche players that push a certain genre, or appeal to a particular demographic group (like NBC's Seeso for comedy)
- Live TV replacement services (like Sling TV)
- Sports streaming services (like NFL Game Pass and NBA League Pass)
All of these compete with Netflix to one degree or another, and in a note on Wednesday, Jefferies analyst John Janedis made the argument that these new services "could impact demand and subscriber acquisition costs on the margin [for Netflix]."
Here is a non-comprehensive chart from Jefferies that shows just how complicated the market has become: