Source: Stratechery by Ben Thompson
Netflix's shift toward bundling competitor services admits that exclusive content alone can't sustain growth. The company is moving from media producer to distribution platform as subscriber acquisition slows. This mirrors cable operators' transition to aggregation—a structural pattern that has historically compressed margins even while expanding addressable customers. The financial logic is sound for shareholders, but it reveals that streamer competition has resolved into logistics: leverage accrues to whoever owns the customer relationship and payment rail.