<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s a tale as old as time \u2014 or at least as old as the streaming wars: Should the entertainment business be focused on reach and mass scale? Or should they focus on profitability, to bring back an economic model a bit closer to the glory days of cable TV?<\/p>\n
\n\tOn corporate earnings calls across the sector, executives have been touting their streaming profits and planning, envious of Netflix<\/a>\u2018s margins, which hover in the mid 20 to low 30 percent range.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe way we\u2019re going to get there is through revenue growth and through driving operating leverage through the business,\u201d Disney CFO Hugh Johnston told Wall Street analysts Nov. 13. \u201cWe didn\u2019t give a specific revenue guide, but our objective and our aspiration is very much to be growing the top line of that business by double digits, as we did on an apples-to-apples basis in Q4. That\u2019s what we\u2019re looking to do going forward is to grow the top line double digits.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe [direct-to-consumer] segment will be \u2014 it is profitable next year,\u201d Paramount CEO David Ellison told analysts Nov. 10. \u201cIt will be increasingly profitable in 2026. And so from that standpoint, when we look at the growth rates across the business, we believe that we can grow and scale in service, and we\u2019re doing that in a fashion that is profitable.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s the profits, you see! Wall Street wants streaming to be profitable, so executives are focusing on profitability. Reality, of course, is a bit more complicated. Hence the barrage of Black Friday<\/a> deals, including the Disney+ and Hulu bundle for $4.99 for a year (a steep discount from the $12.99 base price); HBO Max<\/a>\u2018s ad tier for $2.99 per month for a year, down from $10.99 (a 70% discount, and by far the cheapest way to get HBO programming); and perhaps most surprisingly is Apple TV<\/a>, which is offering to shave its monthly fee by more than half to $5.99 per month for the first six months. Apple has historically not participated in the Black Friday discounting, a further example of its efforts to try and grow the reach of its streaming platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tStill, not everyone is playing the game.<\/p>\n