Welcome to the latest edition of State of the Screens.  

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Onward,

Michael Beach

$2B in content = 1% of TV attention

Five big questions re: peak TV:
1) How much are media giants spending on shows, movies, and sports?
2) Who’s ramping up the fastest?
3) Who gets the most viewer attention for each dollar spent?
4) How big is sports in the content budget?
5) How much of total revenue goes back into content?

How much are media giants spending on shows, movies, and sports?

2024 content spend (KPMG):
1) 2020 - $142B
2) 2021 - $173B (↑ 22%)
3) 2022 - $196B (↑ 13%)
4) 2023 - $202B (↑ 3%)
5) 2024 - $210B (↑ 4%)

Flashback #1: Peak TV Finally Peaked in 2022

Flashback #2: Hollywood's Ten-Year Bender Slowly Comes to an End

2024 content spend (% of tota)(KPMG):
1) Comcast - $37B (18%)
2) YouTube - $32B (15%)
3) Disney - $28B (13%)
4) Amazon - $20B (10%)
5) Netflix - $17B (8%)
6) Paramount - $15B (7%)
7) Meta - $15B (7%)
8) WarnerBros. Discovery - $14B (7%)
9) Spotify - $12B (6%)
10) Fox - $9B (4%)
11) Apple - $7B (3%)
12) Sony - $5B (2%)

Note: KPMG counts YouTube, Spotify, and Meta — others don’t.

Why it matters: Without TikTok, “algo TV” (YouTube, Spotify, Meta, Netflix) already makes up 36% of spend.

The four(ish) horsemen of Algo TV:
1) YouTube
2) Netflix
3) TikTok
4) Spotify
5) Facebook/Instagram

Flashback: The Four(ish) Horsemen of Algo TV

Who’s ramping up the fastest?

Annual growth rate (CAGR) for content spend (KPMG):
1) YouTube - ↑ 28%
2) Amazon - ↑ 16%
3) Other (6) - ↑ 12%
5) Netflix - ↑ 7%
6) Paramount - ↑ 6%
7) Disney - ↑ 5%
8) Comcast - ↑ 3%

Who gets the most viewer attention for each dollar spent?

Dollars spent per 1% share of TV time:
1) YouTube - $1B
2) Fox - $1B
3) Netflix - $2B
4) Average - $2B
5) Paramount - $2B
6) WarnerBros. Discovery - $2B
7) Disney - $3B
8) Amazon - $5B
9) Comcast - $5B
10) Apple - $20B

Bottom line: Media companies are spending $2B on content for every 1% of our attention on TV.

h/t to Michael Gross, who made a similar argument recently.

How big is sports in the content budget?

U.S. Content spend by type (Doug Shapiro):
1) Non-Sports - 80%
2) Sports - 20%

How much of total revenue goes back into content?

Quick math on content share of U.S. video revenue:
1) $233B in U.S. video revenue
2) $116B (50%) spent on content

Wow: Sports content costs account for $0.10 (20% * 50%) out of every single dollar in video revenue!