The result is consumer whiplash. We are no longer "binge-watching." We are churning . We subscribe for Succession , cancel, resubscribe for The Last of Us , cancel, and pirate Bluey for the kids out of sheer subscription fatigue. The average household now spends over $100 a month on streaming—more than the average cable bill of 2015.
Prediction two: Not because studios are nice, but because the streaming wars have cratered. With Wall Street demanding profitability over subscribers, studios can no longer afford to only make $200 million blockbusters. They will have to make Aftersun and Past Lives again—$10 million dramas that make their money back slowly, over years, on digital rental.
This has created a fascinating anxiety in the C-suites. Executives know that audiences want originality. But they are terrified to pay for it. The result is the "highbrow franchise"—taking a beloved IP and handing it to an auteur. The Batman (Matt Reeves). Andor (Tony Gilroy). The Last of Us (Craig Mazin). These are not products; they are arguments that genre can be art. It is a truce in the culture war. Perhaps the most profound shift is where and how we watch.
The result is consumer whiplash. We are no longer "binge-watching." We are churning . We subscribe for Succession , cancel, resubscribe for The Last of Us , cancel, and pirate Bluey for the kids out of sheer subscription fatigue. The average household now spends over $100 a month on streaming—more than the average cable bill of 2015.
Prediction two: Not because studios are nice, but because the streaming wars have cratered. With Wall Street demanding profitability over subscribers, studios can no longer afford to only make $200 million blockbusters. They will have to make Aftersun and Past Lives again—$10 million dramas that make their money back slowly, over years, on digital rental.
This has created a fascinating anxiety in the C-suites. Executives know that audiences want originality. But they are terrified to pay for it. The result is the "highbrow franchise"—taking a beloved IP and handing it to an auteur. The Batman (Matt Reeves). Andor (Tony Gilroy). The Last of Us (Craig Mazin). These are not products; they are arguments that genre can be art. It is a truce in the culture war. Perhaps the most profound shift is where and how we watch.