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The Best/Most Popular Series I’ve Written
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17 May 2023
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The 19 Best Articles I’ve Written
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01 Jan 2021
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Nerd Corner – Explaining Entertainment Using Your Favorite Franchises
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The “Business” of Entertainment…Explained
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01 Jan 2021
Deep Dives
Introducing An Intelligence Preparation of the “Streaming Wars” Battlefield
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04 Nov 2019

Latest Stories...

The State of Theaters, the Decline of Cable, and Piracy

July 3, 2025 12:12am

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) Today is part two of my “Four Horsemen of the Media-pocalypse” check-in, which I started last week with a big ‘ol article on AI. Frankly, there’s just way, way (probably

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No, Seriously, Are the Streaming Wars Getting More Competitive?

July 1, 2025 11:12pm

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Is there anything I love more than finding a dose of conventional wisdom and smashing it to pieces?

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A Look at Both Sides of the AI Debate

June 26, 2025 6:23pm

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) Right now, I recommend two different newsletters from two ideologically-distinct-but-similarly-named policy pundits. And boy howdy, do they hate each other. On Twitter, it gets personal. Both of them accuse the

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How I’m Using AI (And Why I’m Still Underwhelmed)

June 25, 2025 5:17pm

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) So many newsletters use AI to generate intro images these days, so I figured I might as well. Based on my inside joke about heading to my “data bunker”, I

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If a Streaming Show Flops in the Forest, But No One Writes About It, Did It Really Flop?

June 23, 2025 8:12pm

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Emmy season remains undefeated.  This week, we have so many new shows, but few hits. In fact, the

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11 Reasons For AT&T/WB/Discovery’s Streaming Wars Stumbles

June 17, 2025 8:34pm

(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) One of the entries on my “Damn, I wish I wrote that article” list is offering strategic advice to Disney as they

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The 24 Month Gap Between Seasons Is Killing Your Shows

June 13, 2025 6:13pm

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get to today’s article, two fun digressions. First off, based on the response to last week’s

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A Case Study in Why Movies Should Go to Theaters

June 4, 2025 6:59pm

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Want to help me solve a mystery? Starting on 23-May, my Substack saw a huge boost in traffic

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The All-in-One Streamer is Dead

May 30, 2025 10:02pm

(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Last year, in a bid to fend off a bill that mandates that large search engines like Google (Well, only, Google) pay

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Landman and Severance Show Beast Games What a Real Hit Is

May 29, 2025 5:37pm

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Today, I deliver on a long-promised topic.  As I wrote when Beast Games first started—the week of 16-Dec,

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No News is Bad News for Big Budget Hit Shows

May 23, 2025 11:24pm

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get to the last two weeks of streaming viewership data, let’s talk about “The Lizardman’s Constant”.

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Can Sports Replace Scripted Television Viewership on Broadcast TV?

May 21, 2025 8:09pm

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) Normally, I just sneak a quick look at broadcast and cable TV show renewals into my regular Renewals and Cancellations update, without saying much else, but I’m not doing that

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Hit Shows Are Gettign Early Renewals, While Two Streamers Struggle in 2025

May 20, 2025 10:54pm

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) When I research and write up my data deep dives, I love slicing the data as many ways as possible. Frankly, I don’t have a choice. If you only look

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Recapping 2025’s Big Franchise and IP Developments

May 16, 2025 9:54pm

(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) I won’t lie to you, reader. I’ve been waiting to write about “the content battlefields” of the streaming wars for a while

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Three Dystopian Emmy Darlings Vie for the Streaming Crown

May 14, 2025 7:21pm

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get going, let me address the trade-war-sized elephant in the room, namely, why I haven’t written

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Happy Anniversary (To Me!) and an Update to my 2025 Blogroll Update

May 9, 2025 10:49pm

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) Today is the seventh anniversary of the Entertainment Strategy Guy website, and honestly, I can’t believe I’ve been writing this long! Seriously, it’s been surreal to realize that I’ve been

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Do Oscar Nominations Drive Streaming Viewership?

May 7, 2025 11:21pm

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what is popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read someone arguing (or just casually mentioning as if it’s common knowledge) that a major award nomination or win will “bump”

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As Emmy Season Kicks Off, The Misses Pile Up

May 5, 2025 8:35pm

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) As television shifts to streaming, the TV release calendar is taking on a new rhythm. Back in the

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A Whole Bunch of Thoughts on IP, Sinners, The Indie TV Model, NBA Rights and More

May 1, 2025 5:40pm

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) Before we get going today, I’d like to defend my anonymity.  Now, I’m not sure that I really need to, but every now and then, people ask about it. Other

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Adolescence vs. The Residence: Who Wins? Plus Wicked’s Big Opening

April 29, 2025 11:49pm

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get to today’s Streaming Ratings Report, it’s time for some more shoutouts from other newsletters and

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The Entertainment Strategy Guy
The Entertainment Strategy Guy

@SriduttN I think you're two cents are right on here. My gut is their raise is similar to NFL, or maybe NHL. But not that much higher. Read More

Jul 28 2021
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The Entertainment Strategy Guy
The Entertainment Strategy Guy

@MasaSonCap Not at all, and even with the extra inventory, they aren't the NFL. But good to take control of the narrative! Read More

Jul 28 2021
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The Entertainment Strategy Guy
The Entertainment Strategy Guy

Yes, this headline is about the NBA. And Live Sports. Does it have implications for the streaming wars? You bet. Essentially, right as Live Sports are propping up linear bundles, the new OTT sports services need to buy sports rights. So it's boom town. Read More

Jul 28 2021
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The Entertainment Strategy Guy

🚨🚨🚨Folks, he's going threading! 🚨🚨🚨 Must read... Read More

Jul 28 2021
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The Entertainment Strategy Guy

RT @Denisgreen10: The NBA Final’s Ratings Were Down. Does It Even Matter? by @EntStrategyGuy #NBA #Finals Read More

Jul 28 2021
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The Entertainment Strategy Guy

RT @TimCushing: My employer, @techdirt, brings you great takes on Section 239, the First Amendment, and all sorts of govt malfeasance. And… Read More

Jul 28 2021
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