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> Is there some difference between streaming companies and classic movie studios that makes this the case? Yes. Movie studios and streamers have different busi
by vineyardmike 5y ago
> Is there some difference between streaming companies and classic movie studios that makes this the case?
Yes. Movie studios and streamers have different business models. Movie studios also deal with more "legacy" actor contract negotiations and the like (see disney v scarlet). Theater released movies make most of their money upfront, and make money out on a per-view basis. So they need as many viewers as early as possible.
With streamers, they can lose the subscription any month, and only gain it back if they lure you - so they're incentivized to give you "anchors" that keep you there. Think game of thrones keeping people subscribed to HBO month over month or Squid Games that gets lots of attention. Once you're there, they just have to have "something" for those days you don't really know what to watch. That "something" is different for everyone, so they have to make lots of low budget generic stuff that appeals, collectively, to a wide audience. Each show/movie can have few viewers, because its going for niche targeting en mass - think themed cable channels but one company has to make something for each theme. Once a streamer makes a show, its "free" to them to share it with as many people as possible, but also doesn't cost them anything to not show it.
Ben Thompson (stratechery) has talked about this a lot, check him out!
- ethbr0 5y agoSummary: streamers are valued by how long their tail is, movie studios are valued by how high their ceiling is.