“Legacy media conglomerates are giant entities that currently struggle to grow profits, so more of these moves will be made at Disney and other companies owning TV networks,” Benes said.

Consumer demand is another consideration.

Dan Rayburn, a streaming media expert, said people need to be looking at how much content ABC and Hulu produced in the scripted comedy and drama divisions, especially as consumer preferences change.

“If they’re not doing that much, it makes sense to combine them, naturally,” Rayburn said. “When things like this happen, good businesses are always strategically looking at how they create content, how much of that content they’re creating, and if there’s overlap in between organizations in terms of working on the same goal.”

What happens next

As the industry moves forward, shifting audience preferences will always be top-of-mind for publishers, according to Rayburn. And it’s a costly game to play, considering Netflix said it would be spending $17 billion on content in 2024.

“Disney, Netflix, and all these guys are constantly changing and evolving how much content they have to create across what type of genre,” Rayburn said. “That’s the hardest part of their business.”

For a look at the future of the industry, Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at Forrester, pointed to the bottom line.

“Just look at the balance of investment,” Proulx said. “We’ve officially reached the turning point towards an all-streaming television landscape where traditional linear TV plays second fiddle to streaming’s original programming and distribution reach, eventually going away altogether.”