Netflix, Hulu, Amazon To Spend $6.8 Billion On Programming In 2015

Hollywood will receive a big influx of cash next year from none other than streaming video-on-demand subscription services. Analyst David Bank from RBC Capital Markets believes Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime will spend $6.8 billion in 2015 for syndication rights of popular TV shows and movies.

As reported by Variety, Bank wrote in a projection report that Netflix will provide roughly $3.3 billion of the final $6.8 billion figure, Hulu $1.5 billion, and Amazon Prime will contribute $1.7. This total is significantly higher than the reported $5.2 billion Hollywood studios received from SVOD services in 2014, and it will almost double the number broadcast stations plan to spend in 2015 (only $3.3).

However, the SVOD syndication spending will still be less than the whopping $18.4 billion Bank estimates cable companies will pay for syndication in 2015. Bank did note in his projections that cable companies aren’t likely to continue growing as rapidly as SVOD in the next several years. According to Variety, the analyst “expects double-digit year-over-year increases in SVOD syndication

spend for “years to come,’” especially because of the continuing developments in the subscription services industry (like Netflix expanding to international locations).

Additionally, Bank thinks all this spending can only benefit both Hollywood and SVOD services despite concerns voiced about SVOD companies purchasing single shows (or creating their own content) instead of buying bulk programming from Hollywood. “While much has been made of the potential for original programming to lower demand for acquired off- network programming, we think such concerns are overstated,” wrote Bank, according to Variety. “The average linear cable channel or SVOD platform alike has to program 24 hours per day of viewer demand. This demand cannot be satisfied by a slate of six or so original shows.”

Bank’s report helps prove a point many in the new media industry have been touting for years: SVOD services have become one of the biggest forces in the entertainment world with more to offer Hollywood than it initially thought.