The Content Wars...Will it Bubble? ...and Collateralized Content Obligations (CCO)

I am loving the content wars as a consumer.

I do wonder if it is turning into a bubble as my queue gets out of control.

Today, Disney is pulling their content from Netflix and starting their own streaming service. I’m sure they will figure out how to get me to pay for certain sports packages.

The high level media ‘Game of Thrones’ is on. Netflix had to know this was coming and today have already announced a deal with the Coen brothers. I’m sure over the next week they will announce 10 more like this.

This action makes the stock market ever more fascinating. The stock market is where I invest and game. It’s where I play ‘Grand Theft Auto’ and ‘Call of Duty’. I want to find trends, lean back and ride trends while constantly trying to look at the landscape from as high a vantage as possible. This content trend is taking on a whole new set of twists again.

Today I pay for Spotify, Amazon Prime, the PGA app, Netflix, HULU, HBO Now, Cox for internet/cable in Phoenix and Time Warner for Internet/Cable on Coronado (have to keep Ellen happy with Bravo etc…). In a single act of being cheap I switch my paid Showtime on and off.

In finance, I am an investor in Real Vision (Netflix for financial content/interviews) so indirectly I pay for that too and if you love markets and investing you should subscribe (shameless plug).

In just the USA, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat will also want us to pay subscriptions for premium content so the war will just get more intense.

The top 20 percent income earners in the country will likely pay for all of it if the content is good enough. The bottom 80 percent is a little different. It is likely a luxury.

I half joked today to my network that the banks will get into the content business by creating collateralized content obligations. Raoul, the founder of Real Vision, chimed into my stream that it was a good idea… like Bowie Bonds 2.0. Raoul was at Goldman so he knows when an idea is not just good, but dastardly!

These streaming content services have expected revenue streams. Why should Netflix take on debt themselves when they can lay it off on the rest of the world and receive the revenue now. I have to believe this will become a thing for the banks in due time.

I am open to creating a Media Content Group bond so hit me up with your best ideas or if you can help put this together for me.