Dual portfolio management strategies of online subscription video on demand (SVOD) companies: a genre perspective

ABSTRACT

Effective portfolio management is vital for organisations to achieve competitive advantage. This study investigates how online subscription video on demand (SVOD) companies manage their genre portfolios. Using longitudinal data of all original content produced by the two largest U.S. SVOD platforms and all primetime shows provided by the U.S. Big Four broadcast networks over a seven-year period (2012–2019), this study demonstrates that the SVOD companies used dual strategies to maximise appeal to both subscribers and critics. Specifically, the SVOD companies differentiated from their own previous genre portfolios by offering more shows in the genres that had been less offered by themselves, while increasing shows in the same genres where their own shows and the broadcast network shows received positive recognition from television critics.

KEYWORDS:

• Genre
• portfolio management
• television
• streaming

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. There are also non-commercial broadcast networks such as PBS which mainly gain revenues through donations.

2. If multiple seasons of the same show were released, the launch date of the first season was used for analysis.

3. To ensure the consistent comparison between SVOD shows and broadcast network shows, the “year” for SVOD dataset follows the concept of “season” commonly used in the broadcast television and thus was set to begin on September 1^st and to end on August 30^th.

4. Analyses were redone using the dataset where genres listed in a multi-genre show received a full count of 1, and the significance and direction of the coefficients remained the same.

5. A supplemental analysis was conducted using Amazon Originals’ genre sum as the outcome variable. Consistent with the Netflix analysis, genre growth in Amazon was negatively related with each genre’s share in Amazon’s own past portfolios (p <.05). Regarding the influence of Emmy nominations, Amazon’s genre decisions were positively influenced by Netflix’s Emmy performance (p <.001). However, the Emmy-nominated shows produced by the four broadcast networks or Amazon itself did not have significance influences. Detailed results are available upon request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shinwon Noh

Shinwon Noh, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Management and Management Science at Lubin School of Business, Pace University. Her research interests include categorisation, organisational identity, and professions in cultural industries. She received her Ph.D. in Organizational Behaviour from Cornell University.