Explaining the Business of Entertainment
Deep dives into Nielsen and other data that provide insights into streaming.
For those of you who are sick of superheroes and sci-fi TV series, you got a brief reprieve this week, as the big new TV shows and movies didn’t have anyone wearing a cape. (But it’s only a one-week break, since The Umbrella Academy comes out next week.) Unfortunately, there’s
Each week, at the end of both the TV and Film sections in the Streaming Ratings Report, I nominate “Dogs Not Barking” of the week, which may lead you to ask: What is a “Dog Not Barking”? Good question! It’s a term that I started using, inspired by a Sherlock
Compared to two years ago, the energy in the film world has really moved back to theaters. When Covid-19 locked down the world, virtually all major films went to streaming, or joint theatrical-streaming releases. From Red Notice to The Tomorrow War to even Encanto, theaters weren’t driving the conversation; streaming
The “Streaming Ratings Report” took a break last week since we got Nielsen ratings data fairly late in the week, and Nielsen had delayed reporting data the week before. While I use multiple sources each week to compile this report, Nielsen data has two features that no other (public) data
[Folks, right off the bat, I need to let you know that we don’t have the full Nielsen data set for the week of 23-May. But not to fear, between TV Time, some early tidbits that Nielsen released on Twitter about Obi-Wan Kenobi and Stranger Things, Netflix global ratings, Samba
By my count, we had 38 new releases on streaming this week—which is a lot—including 25 TV series and 10 films. And fortunately not all of them are desperate to win an Emmy! (Thankfully.) Before digging into the ratings, this Streaming Ratings Report will be a little different. if you’re
Any big news stories this week? Let me check: Oh dear, that will inspire lots of noise and coverage. (Want my thoughts? I don’t value executive shifts as much as some, which I’ve explained before and in this Twitter thread today.) How can I tie this to the streaming ratings? Some
If there’s anything critics love complaining about, it’s that there’s too many sequels. Well, guess what, I got “sequel-itis” too! This week, a follow-up to our blockbuster segment, “Foreign Film Failures”… [As a reminder, if you want to keep getting the Streaming Ratings Report each week, sign up on Substack.
Here’s a weird one for you: Netflix released five shows on a Wednesday, 27-Apr-2022. You don’t normally see that. Netflix also had two big releases on Friday, as did Prime Video and Apple TV+. Interestingly, Paramount, Hulu and HBO Max released their big shows this week—reminder the week from April
[Editor’s Note: As you may have read, I’m putting up a paywall on 16-Jun-2022. For the next month, you can expect a few reminders from me about this. I’m trying to balance the thin line between being obnoxious and also making a living writing about entertainment strategy. If you haven’t