Explaining the Business of Entertainment
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
As a reminder, each week I mainly cast my gaze back in time four weeks, since that’s when we get Nielsen’s U.S. data. And this report focuses on the U.S. because: 1. It’s still the biggest single market for streaming. 2. It has the most competition. 3. It’s the leading
Instead of the usual weekly report, last week we gave you something much better: a run down of the winners and losers of 2021. In case you missed, I published a few pieces last week, including: – The Winners of 2021: TV – The Winners and Losers of 2021: Film
What a difference a year makes. In 2020, when trying to write who “won the year”, I had to parse multiple data sources, plus Covid-19’s lockdowns made everything tougher to judge what truly did well and what folks happened to stream for a few weeks in March. In 2021, with
In December, streaming felt a lot like yesterday’s titanic Buffalo Bills vs Kansas City Chiefs game. It started off slow, but then finished with a slew of big, big titles. Netflix released The Witcher and Emily in Paris, Paramount+ released 1883 (a Yellowstone spinoff), and Disney+ released The Book of
Well, I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday vacation. When you last heard from me, I’d analyzed the Nielsen viewership data for the week of 8-Nov-2021. (Along with all the other pieces of data I absorb each week.) That means we have a lot of streaming ratings to catch up.
This week I’m continuing a bit of an experiment, having split my usual streaming ratings report into two pieces, film and TV. Today we continue with TV. Since we received Nielsen data late, this report is about a week late. (Nielsen updated their data on Monday this week.) For those
As we head into the new year—somehow, we’re in the 22nd year of 21st century—I’m pondering changes to this streaming ratings report. The biggest idea on deck is to split it into two parts, one film and one TV. So we’re going to try it this week, since the Nielsen
– Disney and Netflix are in the “top tier” of US streaming subscribers, with 69.1 million and 66.8 million respectively. Disney just passed Netflix for top streaming subscriber in the US. – HBO, Prime Video, and Showtime/Paramount+ make up the next tier of streamers. The latest issue of the
Ever get a phrase stuck in your head? Like an ear worm? I had one of those this week, as I debated between anointing ViacomCBS, Comcast or Discovery as the “most important” story of the week. To exorcise that mental demon, and to mix metaphors, I plan to debunk it