Netflix is a huge streaming service and people stream thousands of hours worth of content on the service every day. You would imagine that Netflix would believe TV or some other streaming service to be its competition but it seems that Fortnite is actually a bigger competitor than HBO. The earnings report noted that Epic Games’ battle royale hit is a threat for the company.
The company has noted that about 10% of screen time is taken up by Fortnite in the US. The number is different for other countries but you can see why Fortnite can be seen as a threat. The following is what the company had to say regarding the matter:
“We earn consumer screen time, both mobile and television, away from a very broad set of competitors. We compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO.”
This is very interesting indeed keeping in mind that Fortnite is a game and Netflix is a streaming service but if these numbers are true then you can imagine why Netflix sees Fortnite as a threat to its business. If you are playing Fortnite on their screens then they are not watching something on Netflix. Fortnite is a very popular game right now and millions of player play it every day.
To give you an idea of the user base, Netflix has 139 million paying memberships per month. This number is prior to the revised pricing so this number could decrease in the future but that is something that we will have to wait and see. On the other hand. Fortnite has over 200 million registered users. While registered users do not really equal to the people that actually play the game, it will give you an understanding of what Netflix is up against.
Epic Games is under fire for using different dance emoted without taking permission from the creators and Microsoft has removed similar emotes to avoid being sued as well.
The new season of Game of Thrones is around the corner and I am sure that it will change things when it is released. HBO might become a bigger threat once the new season is released. For more information and news regarding the matter, stay tuned.
