Netflix was the breakaway winner among media stocks in 2024, with the streaming powerhouse’s shares up more than 90% over the course of the year.
That easily outpaced other media companies, many of which continued to wrestle with the industry shift toward streaming and the decline of traditional linear TV.
Netflix currently has a market capitalization of $385 billion, after its stock price ballooned 92% from the beginning of the year to close at $900.43 per share Monday. The company netted 22.5 million new customers through the first nine months of the year, to stand at more than 282 million as of the end of September.
The stock cooled off in December after hitting all-time highs. But Netflix isn’t slowing down: It expects 2025 revenue of $43 billion-$44 billion (which would represent growth of 11%-13%) and is targeting a 2025 operating margin of 28% vs. its forecast of 27% in 2024.
In addition, Netflix continued to boast momentum in its ad-supported business, topping 70 million users. As it kept building on strong franchises like “Bridgerton” and “Squid Game,” the streamer presented its first NFL live telecasts and a record-breaking live boxing event with Jake Paul and Mike Tyson ahead of its “WWE Monday Night Raw” deal that kicks off in January.
Fox Corp., owner of Fox News and the Fox broadcast network, was another solid media stock gainer (up 64% year to date). Its financial results were boosted by an increase in ad revenue from the 2024 election cycle and a summer of soccer broadcasts.
Disney, with a current market cap of $201 billion, was up 22% for 2024. Its stock jumped to over $120/share this spring after activist investor Nelson Peltz lost his bid to shake up the board. Shares slumped over the summer on concerns over weakness in its theme parks biz — then clambered back up in November on strong earnings results and streaming profits, and Disney’s three-year forecast for EPS growth. CEO Bob Iger cashed out a chunk of his Disney holdings worth $42 million just before Thanksgiving.
Warner Bros. Discovery was media stock loser for 2024, down 10%. In August, the company’s shares hit all-time lows after the media conglomerate — heavily reliant on its pay-TV business — announced a whopping $9.1 billion write-down reflecting the loss of value of its linear television networks. The stock subsequently got a lift on solid Max streaming gains and WBD CEO David Zaslav’s announcement that the company will restructure into two divisions: one housing its TV business and the other with its studio and streaming operations (plus HBO). But Warner Bros. Discovery shares were still down X% for the year. (Earlier this month, Zaslav sold just over $30 million worth of his WBD stock holdings.)
Also losing out: Paramount Global (down 28%), which made big cuts (including layoffs and a huge write-down of cable assets) as it prepares to be acquired by Skydance Media and Skydance’s financial partners. Comcast, whose stock was down 14% for 2024, laid the groundwork to spin off most of NBCUniversal’s cable TV assets in a bid to improve its core financial profile.
Here’s the year-to-date performance of media stocks for 2024 through market close Monday (Dec. 30):
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