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The Evolution Of Streaming Platforms For Movies And Series

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NASDAQ:WBD   Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. - Series A
In this work, we will analyze the evolution of streaming platforms for movies and series, from the emergence of the first video rental stores to the present day. We will compare the main companies in the sector, such as Amazon, Netflix, Warner Bros. and Disney, and evaluate their technical and fundamental performance in the stock market. Our thesis is that streaming platforms are a phenomenon that revolutionized the entertainment industry, but that also face challenges and controversies in a turbulent economic and social scenario.

1. The origin of streaming platforms
Hollywood, located in Los Angeles, in the state of California, became very famous for producing movies and series that are consumed worldwide. This made Los Angeles one of the 5 most profitable cities in the world. In the 80s, there was a popularization of VHS tapes and, because they had a slightly higher cost, several video rental stores appeared, where they lent these tapes in exchange for a monthly fee or separate rentals. And so, with technology maturing, they started to integrate these movies into DVDs, where access became much easier than VHS tapes, but also brought the entry of piracy, which became very popular in countries with underdeveloped governments, such as Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Turkey and among others.

Even with the advancement of technology, the film industry did not stop, which brought a lot of profitability to the state of California and to the city of Los Angeles, which was the main film hub in the world. And while this was happening, the internet evolved. What was already something interesting with telephone stairs lines or radio signals gradually became what would replace video rental stores, giving rise to the first streaming platforms. Netflix, which originally was a physical video rental store, started to integrate a very well-designed library of movies and series for a low subscription cost.

2. The popularization of the internet and online content
Over the years, it seemed that this internet thing would work out very well. The Justin.tv platform allowed people to broadcast everyday and normal events. This site saw a significant increase in internet users, which led to the creation of Twitch, focused on games and interaction with viewers. Note that at this point there was still no transmission of movies, as it was not something that happened much at the time. Also with the popularization of YouTube, from Google, which belongs to Alphabet Inc., people started to consume videos made by ordinary people about some content made by these same internet users. And there was a maturation on the part of people, who hired platforms like Netflix to watch movies and YouTube to watch other types of content that did not air on television. Since this type of content was for cable TV, where there was a variety of exclusivities.

With abusive prices for cable TV and several repetitions by broadcasters, since the content of closed channels always repeated programming, where it became a snowball of reruns and that gradually stressed the consumer, who gradually abandoned the idea of using cable TV and switched to the internet.

There were several clandestine sites, where people started watching movies and series online, without having to resort to cable TV. However, with many annoyances of ads and pop-ups with an unpleasant courtesy to those who watched. With that, with the popularization of these clandestine sites, Netflix also became popular, which offered its services without having any type of annoying ads. So, people started to pay for it so they don’t have to resort to clandestine sites. And those who didn’t pay watched within these sites anyway. What happened was that since DVD, where piracy was born, the internet also managed to mature it a lot with these clandestine sites that pirated content.

3. The competition and diversification of streaming platforms
Obviously, the strike will hinder some plans for major streaming platforms.

Well, this shows that with all the evolution we described here, the fight for exclusivity and copyrights has become increasingly fierce and competitive. And of course competition also generates performance and what also attracts investors. Bringing now 5 actions from these respective companies.

Starting to do a study, where we will analyze first the paper from Amazon. Because it acquired Justin.tv, launched in 2007, and Twitch, being a branch, being launched in 2011. And so in 2014, Justin.tv being discontinued. Also in the same year, it was acquired by Amazon. It also has a streaming platform that has rivaled Netflix quite a bit, which is Amazon Prime Video. In addition to having another streaming system aimed at music, which has also rivaled Spotify quite a bit, which is Amazon Music Unlimited and Amazon Prime Music.

Speaking now about Netflix, which is a company that has a great history and that has been around for a long time. In addition to a streaming service, it also now started to develop movies and series to fill the catalog that were removed due to copyrights. Of course Netflix is a controversial company, loved by many and hated by others, for addressing issues that are not very receptive by a large part of the public, such as gender ideology or something related to the queer public. And even with all the controversies and controversies about Netflix, it is a great company with good numbers.

Speaking now about Warner Bros., which is another company that is in the streaming business, betting heavily on HBO Max. What worked out very well in 2021, where the paper rose a lot. Warner is a very reputable company, which has been around for a long time, owning several successful movies and brands. In addition, they are also in the music business, calling themselves Warner Bros. Music Inc. But we can’t say that just like Amazon and Netflix, Warner suffered a lot from the American macroeconomy, with high inflation acceleration. Also dropping the paper, going from 74 to below 9 USD. Having a devaluation of 81.9%, which is a very high value for the investor who had a lot of losses by holding this paper. Despite all this, Warner is trying to reinvent itself, as it has made productions that have not pleased the large community. So they have bet on a reboot in the cinematic universes of their respective scripts.

And lastly, now we will talk about Disney. It is a mega-company, not only acting in movies, but also it has several amusement parks. Being the most famous Walt Disney World, located in Orlando, Florida. Just like the other companies mentioned here, Disney was also badly hurt in 2022 with some economic problems in the United States. But with the high of 2021, which was a placebo effect of pandemic recovery. And also with the success of the Disney+ platform, which made the company rise to the level of 200 USD. Just like Netflix, Disney has been heavily criticized for tirelessly addressing gender ideology issues, changes in ethnicity of consolidated characters, in addition to several controversial accusations about reproducing
content to sexualize children. The path of diversity and liberalism has bothered a large part of investors, who are not pleased with the company’s policies. In addition, it also felt the effects of high American inflations, causing the paper to plummet a lot. All this together with the effect of fundamental analysis.

4. The technical and fundamental analysis of the main companies in the sector
Let’s look at the technical and fundamental analysis of each of the companies we mentioned, and see how they have behaved in the stock market.

4.1 Amazon
Let’s look at the technical analysis of this asset:



Notice that in 2022 there was a drop in Amazon. This was normal, since the S&P itself felt this drop. So all companies in the index were affected, including the Nasdaq Composite asset. Within this downtrend channel, in November 2022 they started to form a range, where the first test is done without enough supply for the price to drop further. And again in March we have another test with lower sales than the last purchases. With that, an uptrend channel started, where it returned to the top of September 2022 and to the region of the VWAP of 750 periods. It seems that we can see Amazon’s paper plummet a little. Maybe there in the range of 120 to 125. And if there is no buyer interest in this price range, we can see the market fall further. But reaching this price range and happening to enter buyer flow, they can hold the price at 125 and make it return to the same top of the region of 135.

Now we will be analyzing the fundamental data.

Source Yahoo Finance

The company has a strong market, good cash generation and high growth, but it also has an uncertain valuation, high costs, high risks and high debt. This means that it can be an investment opportunity for those seeking high long-term returns, but it can also be a pitfall for those unwilling to take the risks involved. The company does not pay dividends, which can be a negative point for those looking for passive income
Well, this is not a good foundation, but it is open to interpretation. Seeing this and the technical scenario, things may not be so good for Amazon. In addition to a very stretched price at a top of the VWAP of 750 periods, it is also not very convincing in fundamentals. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that the Amazon empire is a wonderful and successful company.

4.2 Netflix
Let’s look at the technical analysis of this company and see what the chart along with the fundamentals want to say?

Source: Yahoo Finance

The company has good growth, good profitability and good cash generation, but a poor market value and does not pay dividends. Your margin, ROE, and ROIC metrics are good, but your asset turnover is bad. Its current liquidity is good, but its total debt to equity is high. Therefore, the company may be a good fit for investors looking for growth, but not for those looking for passive income or low risk.

It is a company that, doing a technical study on it, has not corresponded so much. If we look closely, the part where Netflix had more appreciation was after the pandemic, where there is a spike in price and forming a very common pattern in technical analysis called zig zag pattern.


Which is very common during reversal movements. From 2022 it was very bad for Netflix, which suffered a very abrupt drop, leaving 696 and coming to fetch 171. Which was indeed very worrying. She even managed to return to 416. However, this top, as we saw in the first chart, Netflix may be heading for another reversal. That is, being this high just a corrective movement. Because if we notice well, buyer interest has been falling more and more. And besides, she lost the region of the VWAP of 50 periods, showing that there is an acceleration in price. So in the most optimistic hypothesis, she could look for 360 USD.



Source Yahoo Finance

The company has good growth, good profitability and good cash generation, but a poor market value and does not pay dividends. Your margin, ROE, and ROIC metrics are good, but your asset turnover is bad. Its current liquidity is good, but its total debt to equity is high. Therefore, the company may be a good fit for investors looking for growth, but not for those looking for passive income or low risk.
Observing that Netflix’s fundamental data have been good, despite some bad indicators. Even with good fundamentals, it has conflicted a bit with the technical part. However, as I said, being very optimistic, she may look for 366. And of course, if buyer interest appears there, they can accumulate. Even looking at the good fundamentals that the company has. This is because investors make decisions not only because of the good fundamentals of the company. They also take macroeconomics into account.



4.3 Warner Bros.
Let’s look at the technical analysis of this asset:



It seems that things are not very good.

We will now do a fundamental analysis.
Source Yahoo Finance

The company has a bad market value, negative profitability and does not pay dividends. Your margin, ROE and ROIC metrics are bad, as is your EV/EBITDA. Its cash generation is good, but its current liquidity is poor and its total debt to equity is very high. Therefore, the company can be a bad option for investors, as it presents high risk and low return.

With regular to regular fundamental data, fundamental analysis confirms the downward bias along with technical analysis.

We know that Warner has a lot of growth potential and that despite all the problems she went through, she can turn things around. If you do good management of the company.

4.4 Disney
We will be doing a technical analysis study on the asset.







Here we have the presence of 3 charts, where we can clearly see that Disney has been going through a very worrying moment. At least on the technical analysis part, it has shown decline. You can’t tell how far it really goes, due to some proportions. For example, we know that Covid Bottom’s barrier is a psychological support, where participants took advantage of a panic moment there in 2020 to be able to spin the market. However, it seems that it is becoming unsustainable and we can see Disney fall a lot if it happens. It can also happen not to fall and there is buyer interest. But we have no technical evidence to show us buying at the moment.

Now we will be observing the fundamentals:

Source: Yahoo Finance

The company has good market value, good cash generation and good EBITDA, but low P/E and low ROE. Its operating margin and current ratios are fair, but its net profit and total debt-to-equity ratios are weak. Some indicators are not available like DY, DP, ROIC, gross margin and asset turnover. Therefore, the company may be a moderate option for investors but the technical analysis leaves a lot to be desired, which can be worse.
We can see that Disney’s fundamental data are regular, but not exactly the worst on the list. But it also does not present security to investors in a turbulent economic moment.

5. The conclusion and future prospects
In conclusion, we can affirm that streaming platforms are a phenomenon that revolutionized the entertainment industry, but that also face challenges and controversies in a turbulent economic and social scenario. Through the technical and fundamental analysis of the main companies in the sector, we saw that they have presented varied performances in the stock market, depending on factors such as the quality of service, the diversity of catalog, customer loyalty, competition, innovation, reputation and macroeconomics. For the future, we hope that streaming platforms continue to grow and adapt to the demands and preferences of consumers, but also that they are responsible and ethical in relation to the content they produce and distribute.
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