Netflix is dominating streaming by spending $18.6 billion on content

The New York Times

"That’s why investors are mad for Netflix," explains Edmund Lee of Netflix's outsize spending that's far more than traditional companies like Disney and NBCUniversal. "They’re betting on its unorthodox media model: spend big now and reap a massive subscriber base (and big profits) later. Possibly much later. The service’s current tally of 130 million customers beat Wall Street estimates, but investors are ultimately counting on  300 million, or more. The size of that number explains why Netflix is valued so highly relative to other entertainment businesses. The company’s market capitalization currently stands at approximately $156 billion. Disney, by comparison, is valued at about $174 billion. Those figures look out of whack when comparing the size of the companies. Netflix had $14.9 billion in revenue and $1.3 billion in profit for the last 12  months. Disney generated $58 billion in revenue and $10.1 billion in profit for the 12 months ending June 30...In other words, Disney made eight times more money than Netflix, but it’s only worth about 12 percent more. Another way to consider it: Netflix investors are paying about $120 for every $1 of profit it generates. For Disney, investors are paying about $17."