Explaining the Business of Entertainment
I try to keep track of everything that comes out each week, and man, some days still surprise me. Like the Friday after Christmas. Check this out: What do Netflix and Discovery+ know (or not know) that everyone else doesn’t? (Note: They Cloned Tyrone was delayed until 2023.) This was
(Update: Nielsen’s data only came out today, because they dropped their fascinating “Nielsen Streaming Unwrapped 2022” report yesterday. I can’t wait to dive into that data. Luckily, I promised you a deep dive in Christmas films last week, so that’s what you’re getting today. On Monday, you’ll get this week’s Streaming Ratings
Back in December, I wondered out loud if the time for “giant overall” deals had passed. With cost cutting hitting all entertainment companies, it seemed likely. Well, apparently not! Earlier this month, Warner Bros Discovery signed a big new overall TV deal with Greg Berlanti, the most prolific showrunner/producer of
This week is the calm before storm, with the “storm” being the last week of the year “Streaming Sweeps Week”. For those who don’t know, historically, “sweeps” months were a time period where Nielsen collected paper diaries four times per year. Knowing this, broadcasters put on their best programming to
If I had my druthers, the “entertainment year” would start in September. That would put it between the start of the broadcast fall season (and three of the major sports seasons), and right after the grand finale of summer theatrical revenues. As is, the calendar year comes in middle of
I spent the last week deep in the “data trenches”. (For those curious, the data trenches are next to my Excel bunker.) I updated my estimates for U.S. streaming subscribers for each streamer, the most “apples-to-apples” look I think you’ll find for US subscriber counts in America. Then, yesterday, I
Time for New Year’s Resolutions. Here’s a few hopes for 2023 for this newsletter: – I’ll add multiple new data sources to the Streaming Ratings Report in 2023. – I’ll publish more “visuals of the week”, like this one. – And I’ll update the “US Subscriber totals” shortly after Lionsgate
I had planned to publish a streaming ratings report last week, on 30-December, to cover the last two weeks of November. But then Nielsen didn’t put out their ratings last week, because (rightfully) it was the week after Christmas, so I skipped a week too, which means we have twice
Welcome to 2023! Based on the 2022 success of the Entertainment Strategy Guy (both my newsletter and my columns for The Ankler), I’m looking forward to a great year. I know a lot of the news has been negative, but I sincerely hope my readers have a lot to look