Getting Consumers to Pay in Tech Is Underrated
Last week, Netflix announced its latest round of subscription price increases. As usual, the hikes didn’t go over well on social media with the most common responses being either “I cancelled a few months ago” or something related to turning to piracy. I think both reactions underestimate what remains a legitimately impressive feat by Netflix: Getting more than 300 million people to pay for video content. Taking a step back, several Big Tech giants aren’t even at Netflix’s level in terms of getting consumers to pay for products and services. Such a reality raises a number of interesting implications to work through.
In 2024, Big Tech generated approximately $1.8 trillion of revenue.
Amazon: $661 billion (estimated)
Apple: $396 billion
Alphabet: $353 billion (estimated)
Microsoft: $262 billion
Meta: $165 billion
Of the $1.8 trillion, just 50% came directly from consumer purchases. This percentage was obtained by analyzing each company’s revenue streams and breaking out revenue that was directly attributable to consumer purchases.
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