Netflix's Growth, Peacock's Struggles, and the New Streaming Hierarchy

Summary of Netflix's Growth, Peacock's Struggles, and the New Streaming Hierarchy

by The Ringer

38m•February 3, 2026
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Overview of Netflix's Growth, Peacock's Struggles, and the New Streaming Hierarchy

This episode of The Town (The Ringer) with Matt Bellany and Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw reviews the latest streaming metrics and what they reveal about where each service stands heading into 2026. The conversation focuses on a handful of headline numbers—from Peacock’s mounting losses to Netflix’s blockbuster viewing figures—and uses them to reassess the streaming pecking order, the durability of franchise hits, and which content types (big tentpole series, kids animation, and unscripted dating shows) are proving most valuable.

Key takeaways

  • Peacock remains unprofitable and expensive to operate despite subscriber growth; quarterly loss jumped to $552M (from $372M a year earlier). Big sports rights (NBA) are a major near-term cost driver.
  • Netflix continues to lead in cultural hit-making: Stranger Things produced record viewing weeks and K-pop Demon Hunters (an animated film) posted enormous minutes viewed—showing Netflix can still deliver mass moments.
  • There were virtually no brand-new breakout scripted hits among the year’s top 10 streaming shows—most big performers were returning franchises—raising questions about creative pipeline and the effect of strikes/cost-cutting.
  • Unsurprising winners: low-cost, high-episode-count unscripted formats (Love Island, Love Is Blind) and kids’ animation remain high-impact, repeatable drivers of watch time and global licensing value.
  • Disney’s parks (Experiences) are printing money—quarterly revenue topped $10B—reaffirming how crucial parks are to Disney’s profit mix while streaming remains challenged on margins.

Major numbers discussed

  • Peacock quarterly loss: $552 million (up from $372M year‑over‑year).
  • Peacock subscribers: ~44 million (+8M YoY), with reported elevated churn (8–9% recently vs industry average ~5–6%; Netflix churn cited at ~1–2%).
  • Stranger Things:
    • Nielsen: ~8.7 billion minutes viewed in the final week of December (largest week ever recorded).
    • Netflix viewing counts cited for various seasons (used to illustrate size): S1 ~56.6M views; S2 ~44.6M; S4 ~43M (Netflix’s internal metrics).
  • K-pop Demon Hunters (Netflix movie): ~20.5 billion minutes viewed—more than twice any other streaming movie that year.
  • Love Island (Luminate claim): ~18.4 billion minutes for the year—hosts expressed skepticism about this metric/scale vs Netflix hits.
  • Disney Experiences (parks & cruises): >$10 billion in quarterly revenue.
  • ESPN valuation (company comment): ~$30 billion (context: expensive sports rights; NFL/ESPN relationship noted).

Platform-by-platform snapshot

Netflix

  • Still the dominant source of cultural hits; Stranger Things remains far and away the company’s biggest asset for viewership and churn reduction.
  • Movies can still break out on Netflix (K-pop Demon Hunters), but the hosts argue that most streaming-film phenomena have followed a predictable formula—animation, music/catchy songs, youth appeal—and that Netflix hasn’t consistently replicated that success in-house.
  • Strategic challenge: maintaining a pipeline of new originals that can match returning franchises; spinoffs and universe-building (Stranger Things spinoffs, Duffer Brothers project on March 26) are key bets.

Peacock (Comcast / NBCUniversal)

  • Not profitable despite growth; sports rights (NBA) increased costs significantly and are recorded on Peacock’s books.
  • Subscriber growth exists (44M), but high churn and expensive rights deals create a difficult path to profitability.
  • Comcast’s strategy includes using first-window movie premieres and sports to attract subs, but the ROI and ad effectiveness of regular-season sports remains uncertain.

Disney

  • Streaming growth exists but streaming profits are weak relative to expectations; company increasingly reliant on parks and experiences for profit.
  • Parks & Experiences are a major profit engine—less sensitivity to price hikes so far.
  • ESPN remains valuable but faces high rights costs and long-term strategic questions.

Amazon / Prime Video and Paramount Plus

  • Reacher (Prime Video) and Taylor Sheridan’s shows (Paramount Plus) continue to perform strongly—Reacher travels well globally; Landman (Taylor Sheridan series) is strong in the U.S.
  • These services act as the next tier below Netflix—able to produce durable franchises but with less overall cultural pull.

Others (HBO/HBO Max, Paramount, Peacock)

  • HBO often treated differently in charts because some shows aren’t reported as streaming originals; overall these services have comparable counts of hits but different strategic strengths (premium prestige vs volume franchises).

What type of content is winning

  • Returning franchise TV shows (Stranger Things, Reacher, Landman) remain reliable top performers.
  • Kids animation and musicals (e.g., K-pop Demon Hunters, Wicked) can create huge streaming moments.
  • Unscripted, high-episode-count dating franchises (Love Island, Love Is Blind) offer scalability, local versions, and sustained watch time at lower production cost—valuable for subscriber retention and repeatable global formats.

Notable insights & quotes

  • “This is the last of the wannabe general interest streamers that is still not profitable” — referring to Peacock’s status.
  • “Stranger Things is so much bigger than basically everything else on television” — on Netflix’s scale advantage with marquee IP.
  • “There was no new hit last year in the top 10” — a worrying sign about the industry’s creative output or the market’s maturity.
  • Disney parks “just cannot stop printing money” — highlighting Disney’s shifting profit center.

Implications and what to watch next

  • Peacock: monitor quarterly losses, churn trends, and how Peacock monetizes expensive sports rights via ads and subscriber retention. High churn makes growth expensive—this is the structural risk for the service.
  • Netflix: watch how Netflix leverages Stranger Things (spinoffs, universe extensions) and whether it can produce more breakout theatrical-window or in-house animation hits—repeatability is uncertain.
  • Industry shift: platforms may increasingly favor lower-cost, high-episode unscripted formats and recurring drop-every-year franchises to stabilize viewership and revenue.
  • Disney: parks growth makes Disney less dependent on streaming for profit, but streaming strategy still matters for IP distribution and ecosystem control.
  • Creative pipeline: if successive years continue without new top-10 scripted debuts, expect strategic responses (more franchise extensions, international unscripted buys, or consolidation).

Quick reference — notable dates & releases mentioned

  • Duffer Brothers’ new series (“Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen”) launches March 26 on Netflix (mentioned as a non-Stranger Things Duffer project).

Bottom line

Netflix remains the leader for cultural scale and major franchise IP, but the streaming landscape is bifurcating: incumbent streamers with big libraries and global scale (Netflix) sit above a second tier of services that can generate hits regionally (Amazon, Paramount), while newer/all-in-one generalists like Peacock are still struggling to translate rights spending into sustainable profit. Meanwhile, Disney’s parks show that corporate media strategy is increasingly diversified—streaming is not the only lever for long-term value.