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

(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 writing about some TV shows in the Streaming Ratings Report for over four years now.

Obviously, the main thing I want to say today is thank you!!! It’s been my lifelong dream to get paid to write, and now I make a living just writing. (And analyzing data, of course.)

Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, which is a lot of you; my overall number of subscribers has nearly tripled in just the last year. 

Even bigger thanks go out to anyone who’s shared one of my articles or linked to me or recommended me or this newsletter to a friend. I still feel slightly “underground” in terms of mainstream awareness, so every little bit helps. 

But my biggest thanks go out, of course, to my paid subscribers. I can’t do this without you. Literally, my team and I couldn’t do it. Of course, I want to keep expanding my team and output; if you’d like that too, please subscribe.

I don’t have any big news or updates this year. I mentioned last year that I might start doing ads, and that’s probably going to happen this year. (A couple of companies have already reached out, and I’m prepping the logistics for all of that. If you’d like to advertise in this newsletter or help me out, please email me.) I might start a podcast as well, but if I do, I’m going to be very deliberate and considered with it. 

If you want to find old anniversary articles, you can find my article announcing my paywall here and my fifth anniversary article here. Last year’s sixth anniversary post—which had a bunch of tips on writing a newsletter—is one of my most popular articles of all time. (And I still stand by my recommendations for Substack improvements, especially begging/asking Hamish and Chris to add indents to email! Please! And customized paywalls.)

On to today’s article. Like last year, I’m updating my Substack recommendations (or what us old school bloggers used to call a “Blogroll”. Sigh. I feel old.) I want to help build the newsletter ecosystem into a community—like the old school blogosphere—instead of a bunch of siloed media outlets.

There are two main changes this year. First, I’m adding seven newsletters to my recommendations list, including Brand to Fans by Will Harrison, Boondoggle by Pat Garofalo, The MMA Draw, The Mediator by Doug Shapiro, Paul Krugman, Streamlined by Liz Shackleton, and The Streaming Lab by Yann Colleter.

Alas, I’m also removing one recommendation. Unfortunately, Kevin Drum of Jabberwocking passed away earlier this year. You can read my remembrance here. He truly was an inspiration, and today’s article goes out to him.

Okay, on to the recommendations, re-publishing last year’s recommendations updated with the 2025 additions.

The Entertainment Strategy Guy Blogroll

I’ve long been a fan of the “blogroll”, the old school term for when bloggers used to list out their favorite blogs, usually on the right-hand side of their website. Essentially, it was an analog version of what made Google search results so innovative (back in the early 2000s, when Google still was innovative): using links as a proxy for quality to figure out the most popular/influential/widely-read blogs.

If a blog that you read also loved another blog, chances are it was pretty good; it was an excellent way to find out who did the best work on the internet.

One of Substack’s big innovations is re-introducing the blogroll back into old school publishing. In this case, with their Recommendations list. (Again, placed right on the right hand side of the front page of most Substack home pages.)

Frankly, this old school tool (recommendations and/or blog rolls) makes for a better internet. Unlike social media, with its pressures to go viral (by being extreme or negative), recommending other newsletters is a way to reward other thoughtful, well-researched, nuanced writing, writers and platforms.

Today, I’m proud to finally unveil “The Entertainment Strategy Guy” blogroll—with recommendations on Substack where applicable—as part of my anniversary month. And frankly, it’s about damn time. I’ve had a paywall up for two years now, and I’ve been meaning to recommend other newsletters for much of that time, especially since so many of these great newsletters have also recommended my work. But I didn’t want to just publish a list; in classic EntStrategyGuy fashion, I had to make a research doc, scan my emails, and rewrite everything just to get to this point.

Reminder: if you want projects like this to go faster, please subscribe! And please check out these newsletters and subscribe to the ones you like, just like I did. You have to support the media you want and, often, that means paying for it with both your attention and your dollars.

The Best Reads on the Entertainment Industry (in Alphabetical Order)

• The Ankler – There are a lot of reasons that you should be subscribed to the Ankler—in addition to reading my bi-weekly columns over there and, of course, reading Richard Rushfield—but the biggest is to support independent media. Right now, the three major entertainment industry trade journals are all owned by one company, Penske Media, along with a bunch of other pop culture websites. So support independent journalism! As for specifics, The Ankler’s daily news brief, “The Wakeup” by Sean McNulty, is my favorite news roundup going, Elaine Low’s “Series Business” has been delivering the best coverage on content decisions, I’ve been a fan of Rob Long’s Martini Shot since the 2000s, and I love The Optionist. (I can’t figure out how he reads so much!)
• Axios Media Trends by Sara Fischer – With more of a focus on media news, Fischer’s weekly rundown of media and entertainment stories balances well with the rest of my more entertainment-focused media diet.
• Brand to Fans by Will Harrison – This is a new Substack, but I’ve really liked Harrison’s data deep dives, even if I don’t agree with all of his takes, which is probably an even bigger compliment!
• The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood by Sonny Bunch – Maybe I’m biased because I agree with so many of his takes, but Sonny Bunch is one of the best writers on both film/cinema and the movie industry. In a time where many critics try their hands at business analysis (and often fail), he does both well. (He also invites me on his podcast!) Subscribe to both Sonny’s Friday columns and both of his podcasts, “Bulwark Goes to Hollywood” and “Across the Movie Aisle” with Peter Suderman and Alyssa Rosenberg.
• FranchiseRe Movie industry newsletter by David Gross – A great source on box office results each week, I’d also recommend David Gross’ “Six Essential Charts” page.
• Hope for Film by Ted Hope – Ted Hope has been writing about cinema and indie film for a long time, at times inspirational, instructional or critical, but always worth your time. He’s a must-read for everyone in Hollywood.
• The Kids Streamersphere by Emily Horgan – When it comes to kids content and streaming, Emily Horgan is the best. Also, check out her podcast, Kids Club Media Podcast!
• Media War & Peace by Evan Shapiro – Though I don’t always agree with every one of his takes (which is good!), Evan Shapiro is must read. In particular, his visualizations of the media universe provide a solid grounding of the media landscape.
• The Mediator by Doug Shapiro – This must-read writer is now on Substack! He does deep dives into the future of media.
• Numlock by Walt Hickey – I’m continually delighted by the wonderful data and anecdata that Walt Hickey manages to dig up around the internet every day. (And I need to read his book!)
• The Outside Scoop by Scott Mendelson – I’ve adored Mendelson’s breakdowns of weekly box office results, especially forecasting how films will leg out, for years now.
• Stat Significant by Daniel Parris – Daniel writes fun data dives into a whole bunch of fun topics across the realm of entertainment, from music to movies. Check it out!
• State of the Screens by Michael Beach – A weekly dive on a trending topic in entertainment, Beach leverages charts from around the internet to explain various topics, with an emphasis on connected TVs and advertising.
• Stephen Follows newsletter by Stephen Follows – Another theatrical data wonk, Follows has a massive data set for films and regularly dives deep into the data, generating some terrific insights. And he’s now on Substack!
• Streaming Made Easy by Marion Ranchet – Ranchet dives deep into the European streaming market, a topic we could all learn more about. Read her and the next two newsletter recommendations to understand the global entertainment industry.
• Streamlined by Liz Shackleton – We’re in the “Substack newsletters about foreign territories” section of the recommendations. I love Shackleton’s in-depth coverage of the foreign entertainment world, with a focus on Asia.
• The Streaming Lab by Yann Colleter – The Streaming Lab covers MENA and other foreign territories. With the previous three newsletters, you can get an unmatched global perspective, showing the power of the newsletter ecosystem. 
• “What I’m Hearing” by Matt Belloni at Puck – As many others have described it (including random podcasts I listen to), this newsletter is must-read by many people throughout Hollywood, and I agree. Also, Julia Alexander is writing for Puck now, so if you want to read her work—and you should—then head over to Puck. 
• Wide Shot by Ryan Faughnder from the Los Angeles Times – From Hollywood’s flagship paper, Faughnder dives into the biggest story of the week, along with links to the LA Times’ entertainment coverage.

Entertainment Industry Data Sources

In addition to the data sources I use in the Streaming Ratings Report each week (Nielsen, Luminate, Showlabs by Plum Research, Samba TV, Metacritic, TV Time, and Just Watch), I also appreciate these data-focused newsletters and/or websites.

• The GameDiscoverCo newsletter by Simon Carless – This newsletter covers video games in a similar way that I cover streaming ratings, and I love it.
• Hub-Intel by Hub Research – I’ve admired Hub Research’s survey data for a while now, and now that data hits my inbox via Substack.
• The-Numbers – Okay, this isn’t a Substack newsletter, but I figured that I’d share my favorite source for box office data. If you’re still using Box Office Mojo, stop right now and start going to The-Numbers. They also have a new monthly report that I recommend as well.
• Whats-on-Netflix by Kasey Moore. The best site for info on the world’s biggest streamer, period.

Other Good Reads

• BIG by Matt Stoller – I think that I might be overusing some words in this article, but Matt Stoller’s newsletter on monopolies and our modern economy is absolutely excellent, terrific, great, must-read, whatever. It’s one of my favorite newsletters to read each week, hands down.
• Boondoggle by Pat Garofalo – Another newsletter on monopolies and corporations, but with a focus on local states and communities, this newsletter is a terrific companion to Big. 
• Cal Newport’s newsletter by Cal Newport – Cal Newport is my guru for productivity and should be yours too. Productivity can be a dirty word, but Newport’s focus isn’t on getting more done more quickly, but getting the right things done at the right pace. If you’re looking for where to start, I recommend his books Deep Work, then World Without Email. He also has a podcast.
• Cocktails with Suderman by Peter Suderman – If you read one newsletter on cocktails, it should be this one.
• The MMA Draw – I didn’t know that I needed an MMA newsletter in my life, but now that I have it, I can say that I love it. The MMA Draw provides a strategic lens to the fight game that I love.
• Money Stuff by Matt Levine. Levine writes incredibly insightful, explanatory and funny articles about the business of finance. And I respect his ability to put out quite long pieces on a daily basis. Also, his article on crypto, which took up a whole issue of Bloomberg magazine, is a must read.
• Noahpinion by Noah Smith – Along with Slow Boring, a very solid, centrist take on politics and the economy. I strongly recommend it.
• Parent Data by Emily Oster – If you’re about to have a baby, or have a few, you must read Parent Data. Oster does data right. And give Expecting Better, her first book, to anyone you know who is pregnant or who wants to get pregnant.
• Paul Krugman – I mean, he’s Paul Krugman, why aren’t you reading him?
• Silver Bulletin by Nate Silver – I’ve definitely been inspired by Nate Silver’s approach to data. He’s the godfather of data journalism, his philosophical approach is top notch, and he’s a must read.
• Simon Owens’ Media Newsletter by Simon Owens – This newsletter is such a great breakdown on the media, but with a focus on content creators. Everyone on Substack should read it.
• Slow Boring by Matthew Yglesias – One of the best political newsletters out there. Period.

By the way, if I forgot or missed someone, I apologize in advance. As you can see, this list is already quite long, so I’m sure I made some mistakes somewhere. Also, I didn’t include any film or TV show criticism newsletters, but there’s tons of excellent writing out there.