Finance

Netflix and Amazon are spending a truckload on TV programming (AMZN, NFLX)

You know the trend by now: Cable TV is losing its grip, internet TV is slowly eating it away. You can see it in the continuous decline in cable TV subscribers, and the streaming TV services cable companies are launching themselves.

As this chart from Statista shows, you can also see it in the sheer amount of cash internet TV’s major players are spending on TV programming. According to data from IHS Markit, Netflix and Amazon spent a combined $7.5 billion on programming in 2015. Both services more than doubled their spending from 2013.

A big chunk of that spending has gone toward original content. Though Netflix and Amazon Prime Video aren’t the only drivers of them, the number of new scripted online shows has skyrocketed over the past five years. In the process, those services have transformed from aggregators of cable content to producers of direct competitors.

Now, as IHS notes, cable is far from dead. Cable channels have ramped up their original scripted offerings at the same time, and linear TV is still where most of the money is. Nevertheless, the largest players in the internet TV world are more than willing to drop some cash to get your eyeballs.

netflix amazon tv chartStatista

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

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