Streaming service cost

business concepts
Neue Antwort am 7. Juni 2023
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Anonym A fragte am 22. Aug. 2021

Would a streaming service have more fixed or variable costs? How do you determine what costs could be more in a business if you don’t know much about it?

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Ken
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antwortete am 22. Aug. 2021
Ex-McKinsey final round interviewer | Executive Coach

Are you referring to a service like Netflix? Personally, the question I would ask is “how significant is the incremental cost of each additional customer?”. In a case interview, even showing that thoughtfulness, gives the interview a very different impression - remember, they are not testing for your knowledge and more of HOW you think. For a media streaming business, one of the major costs is content purchasing or creation which is usually a “fixed cost“ and the incremental customer acquisition cost is marginal in comparison. 

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Anonym A am 22. Aug. 2021

Thanks, why is content purchasing and creation a fixed cost? Doesn’t each movie have a different budget typically? And could get purchased at different premier rates too depending on cast, quality etc?

Ken am 22. Aug. 2021

Yes but "variable" cost is about whether the cost varies by sales or production volume. Whether Netflix has 200M or 250M subscribers shouldn't directly impact the purchasing or creation cost of particular content.

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Ian
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Content Creator
antwortete am 22. Aug. 2021
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

Literally the reason why the FAANGs are dominating the market is because Tech fundamentally has extremely low variable costs!

In other words, they have huge economics of scale.

Netflix spends a lot on Fixed Costs (buying movies/show, improving their product, etc.). 

One additional subscriber costs them cents in terms of variable costs (servicing them).

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Donna bearbeitete eine Antwort am 7. Juni 2023

A streaming service would likely have more variable costs than fixed costs. These variable costs would include content licensing fees, marketing expenses, and cloud computing costs based on the amount of traffic the service receives. Fixed costs would include salaries, rent, and equipment. If you don't know much about a business, you can start by researching the industry and looking at the financial statements of similar companies to get an idea of the typical cost structure. You can also consult with professionals in the industry or hire a consultant to help you assess the potential costs of the business.

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Ken

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