What Will the Streaming Media Landscape Look Like in 2024?

What will the streaming media landscape look like in 2024? We look at the major streaming and media companies including Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, and more.

I am secretly very happy that the major streaming networks don’t release individual recaps of everything you watched this year à la Spotify (SPOT) and its Wrapped recap.

I don’t need to know the exhaustive number of hours I spent watching scantily clad realtors hook up with each other while wearing the latest runway fashions and simultaneously doing open houses at properties in Orange County, Calif. that cost more than the GDP of Granada.

But, because of my indefatigable dedication to all things streaming, I’m here with my 2024 forecast for the streaming media landscape. So, if you care what an elderly millennial who never leaves her house thinks.

2024 is going to be a major year for media companies. In the wake of reaching labor agreements with both the writers’ and actors’ unions, big streamers have some big bills to pay, and everyone is going to have to get super creative with their content to keep up. Keep reading! 

Look for Disney to make changes

Look for Disney (DIS) to possibly offload its sports interests by either spinning off ESPN or seeking an outright buyer. Industry estimates place the value of the sports programming network at around $24 billion.

It could attract interest from sports leagues, tech companies like Apple (AAPL) or Amazon (AMZN) or even telecom companies like Verizon (VZ). But the franchise is valuable, and maybe its sports betting endeavors in partnership with Penn National (PENN) will start to bear fruit for the year.

Disney+ might also finally start reaping gains from price increases and the very steady increases in the number of new subscribers. But the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a dumpster fire—with literally one of the main characters having to be reconfigured because of legal trouble. Plus, multiple Marvel movies failed to recoup their huge marketing spends at the box office this year.

It’s a big ball of yikes for the House of the Mouse. Oh, it's also facing a massive activist investor fight for board seats. An excellent summation of the crazy year that Disney had can be found here. 

Apple and Amazon go all-in on sports

Apple and Amazon are two names that don’t always immediately come to the tip of your tongue when you’re naming your favorite streaming services, but they aren’t messing around.

Both companies have already made massive bets to bring sports to their platforms. I believe that trend will continue in 2024. Apple got amazingly lucky in 2023 with its seemingly unfettered access to global soccer superstar Lionel Messi. Apple signed a 10-year, $2.5 billion agreement with Major League Soccer for broadcasting rights.

With Messi’s arrival to America, Apple looks like a genius. Look for Apple to continue to experiment with varying forms of content for the sports it carries on its channel.

Merging human interest documentaries along with live sports seems to be a winning recipe. But Apple has a massive hole in its content roster to fill since Ted Lasso, the show that got America through the pandemic, wrapped as a series. I do love how Apple will basically just give you Apple+ if you buy anything with an Apple logo on it.

Amazon’s year in sports was a bit shaky with its debut season of Thursday Night Football. Some things were funny, like the addition of Dude Perfect commentators. But other experiments, like Amazon trying to incorporate shopping with football, had mixed results. But as the National Football League season draws to a close, Amazon seems to be figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

Cricket and college football

Amazon will continue to make moves in the world of sports in 2024. The tech and retail giant snapped up rights to cricket, and while you may laugh, that sport dominates globally. Amazon is also in talks with regional sports networks to potentially carry their content as well. If Amazon’s deal with Diamond Sports goes through, it could bring the network’s 40 teams to Prime Video. Amazon also had a hit on its hands with a documentary featuring former Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders.

For 2024, look for both Apple and Amazon to keep jockeying for larger pieces of the streaming pie. There has even been talk of one of the two tech companies getting the streaming rights to the College Football Playoff expanded series which will start in 2026. That would be quite the coup if Amazon could land it.

Amazon also has some decent non-sports related tent poles on Prime Video like the Jack Ryan series, the massive hit franchise The Boys and the second season premiere of the popular Reacher series. 

2023 was good to Netflix

At the very end of 2023, Netflix (NFLX) published its viewing data for the very first time, a move that gave us more insight into what we’re all watching.

Netflix had a great 2023. The stock was up about 65% for the year to date. The site survived “password gate” and actually got people like me to finally start paying for its service.

The biggest threat for Netflix in 2024 is the massive consolidation by its competitors. Everyone knows that Netflix is the "it" girl in the industry and the others are just trying to keep up.

Apple has discussed entering an agreement with Paramount to bundle their services so consumers could pay a lower price.

The proposed merger between competitors Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) and Paramount (PARA) could put Netflix back on its heels a bit. But the secret sauce is that Netflix has always had a massive funnel of content that could sustain it better than its competitors. Hit shows returning to Netflix in 2024 include: The Lincoln Lawyer, Stranger Things, The Night Agent, Wednesday and You.

Netflix is also working to expand its live sports offerings. At the end of 2023, Netflix announced it would bring a live tennis match to the site. The Netflix Slam will be headlined by 22-time Grand Slam men’s singles title champion Rafael Nadal facing off against world No. 2 (and fellow Spaniard) Carlos Alcaraz.

Good things for Hulu

Also in my alternative bucket, I see good things for Hulu. It's now wholly owned by Disney and that potential Disney+/Hulu combo will offer me the Disney adult streaming package of my dreams. A little Frozen in the morning followed up with episodes of The Bear in the evening for $12 (in my dreams) Yes, Chef! It looks like Disney will pursue this one app solution starting as early as Q1 of 2024. 

But beware the cord cutters if inflationary shenanigans continue to put pressure on consumers having to choose between getting a decent pasta sauce or watching the last season of The Crown.  

Peacock fights for attention

Alternative streamers, which include smaller sites like Peacock— a service owned by NBC Universal, which in turn is owned by Comcast (CMCSA) which in turn is owned by aliens from the planet Zorg—will also be trying to gain traction in 2024.

Peacock has been struggling, but like other streaming services, it hopes sports will be its salvation. In one of the last televised games of the 2023 NFL season, Peacock will air the fourth quarter entirely without ads.

Peacock’s visibility problems will persist in 2024, I’m afraid. It used to be that anyone who used Comcast for cable or internet was provided with access to Peacock’s ad-based tier. Now it requires a convoluted flow chart to figure out how to get Peacock. Also, for me personally I feel like a weirdo picking up my voice-activated Comcast remote and yelling “Give me Peacock” at the top of my lungs.

Whatever happens, Peacock needs to turn things around since it already recorded a nearly $3 billion loss for 2023.

Vonetta Logan is a creative writer & news correspondent for tastylive, providing Tom & Tony with a satirical view of the news affecting the financial space on her daily morning show, Daily Dose.

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