For 2023, Ampere expects global content expenditure to increase by just 2% year-on-year — the lowest growth in over a decade (excluding the COVID-driven slump of 2020). This is in stark contrast to 2022, during which global content spend grew by a projected 6% to $238bn, driven primarily by subscription video on-demand (SVoD) platforms. Economic headwinds across the globe will put pressure on household spending and advertising investment, leading to companies implementing cost-saving measures and reducing content expenditure.

But the story isn’t uniform across media groups – while some will continue to drive investment through 2023, others will cut back. Content investment by commercial and public broadcasters, for example, continues to linger below pre-pandemic levels, driven by declines in broadcast TV advertising revenue stemming from wider economic weakness and the ongoing shift of audiences to streaming platforms. In 2023, commercial broadcasters are expected to face a 3% decline in content investment globally, driven by the US market.

Meanwhile SVoD services will still see an increase in total content investment in 2023 but at a lesser 8% year-on-year growth compared to 25% in 2022. Following Netflix’s first global decline in subscribers in H1 2022, the service announced it would plateau its investment in content throughout 2023. Netflix will maintain its position as the leading content investor of the global streaming services at $15bn but competitors such as Disney+ and Apple TV+ will see larger increases in spend, exceeding 10% growth year-on-year.