Every portfolio tells a story. And if you’ve been watching the streaming wars play out over the last decade, you know stories don’t just sell shows — they sell stock prices.
Netflix, Disney, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime — they’ve been locked in battle, not just for your monthly subscription, but for investor belief. The fundamentals? Sometimes shaky. But the narratives? Powerful enough to move billions.
This is what I call narrative gravity — the force that pulls capital not because the data demands it, but because the story is irresistible. Netflix’s “first-mover advantage.” Disney’s “IP fortress.” Amazon’s “we don’t need profits, we’ve got Prime stickiness.” These stories bend market trajectories like gravity bends spacetime.
Here’s the kicker: narrative gravity doesn’t make the math irrelevant. It distorts it. Analysts squint at the same revenue chart, and half see doom, half see destiny. The stronger the story, the more it warps perception.
🔗 For a reminder of how wild these battles got, revisit the CNBC breakdown of Netflix vs. Disney+ subscriber growth.
As investors, the trick isn’t to fight narrative gravity — you can’t. It’s to chart your orbit around it. Step in early when the pull starts, ride it until distortion peaks, and have the discipline to eject before reality reasserts itself.
Markets aren’t spreadsheets. They’re stories told at scale. Miss the narrative, and you miss the move.
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