STREAMINGPLATFORMSANDTHETRANSFORMATIONOFTHEDIGITALMEDIAECONOMY: ANEMPIRICAL ANALYSISOFSUBSCRIBERGROWTH, CONTENT INVESTMENT, AND AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT

Abstract

The recent spike in streaming services has a tremendous influence on the digital media economy, transforming how audioand visual content is generated, distributed and consumed.This research addresses the economic and engagement
features of thelargestreamingplatforms byperformingadescriptiveanalysisof thesubscribersize, contentexpenditure, andaudience engagement indicators. Based on a secondary data set of platform-level financial metrics,subscriber counts,content investment statistics, and engagement metrics in the form of streaming hours, and peakconcurrent viewers, theresearchoffersacomparativeevaluationofvariouslargestreamingplatforms.Theresultsindicatethatthereis a significant difference between platforms in terms of market coverage, financial and audienceactivity. Bigger platformsusually have a better standing on their competition because of the vast subscriber pools andincreased content investments. It is also revealed in the analysis that platforms that distribute more financial resourcesto content creation are the onesthatcreatemoreaudienceengagement,andthereforecontentspendingisanimportantstrategicconsiderationinattractingandretaining viewers. Also,metricsofengagementshowthedynamicsofattentionamongtheaudienceondifferent streaming platforms, such as subscription video services and
live-streaming systems.