ESPN has been the biggest spender in television entertainment for several years now.
Live sports are expensive, and ESPN is, at least now, the leader in sports broadcasting.
But as far as budgets go, Netflix is catching up fast, and will almost certainly surpass ESPN in 2018.
“Netflix will spend between $7-7.6 billion on content in 2018, surpassing ESPN as the biggest spender in televised entertainment, and moving into the number one spot for the first time.”.
Netflix is currently slated to spend over $6 billion in 2017 on content, and is prepared to expand on this rapidly.
This is very exciting for Netflix, but as ESPN knows, heavy is the head that wears the crown.
At least in the short term, though, Netflix subscribers are slated for a wild ride, with a content-producing machine that’s just hitting its stride. »