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To summarize all the findings from this study, original content is increasingly gaining importance in
building a competitive advantage in the streaming market. While there are also other important
purchasing criteria that influence consumers in the choice of their content consumption medium,
content can be regarded as the decisive criterion. The emergence of streaming platforms in
recent years has amplified the trends even more, with exclusive content and original formats
becoming more and more popular. This is closely linked to a changing value chain of the media
market, in that the individual stages seem to be blurring and players are expanding their
presence vertically along the value chain. Furthermore, while various segments (such as the
digital segment) are gaining market share, linear segments (including movie theaters) are
struggling to extend and/or keep their customer bases.
In the goetzpartners Content Efficiency Index, the growth of spending on content is set in relation
to the growth of the audience over the time period of one year for different players in the media
industry. We can conclude that players that focus on investing in their original content generally
see greater audience growth than players that spend little or nothing on original content, with the
exception of Apple TV+, which does not offer sufficient overall content depth and
breadth. Especially Disney+ and TV Now have managed to substantially grow their customer bases;
however, their success is based on different strategies. Disney+ can leverage its strong existing
portfolio of originals while also focusing on an untapped market segment, whereas TV Now has
significantly expanded its offering of formats available only digitally (not on their linear mother
channel RTL).
Moreover, Netflix is able to defend and even extend its market leadership position by investing a lot
and growing its portfolio of original formats. Still, having a current competitive advantage is not
sufficient for the future; it must be sustained by making the right strategic decisions, further
investing in own content, finding and conquering the right (niche) segments and leveraging the
current leading position to increase customer retention.
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