The Jump to Streaming - Was It Worth It?
I’ve been watching and covering the streaming wars for a few years now, and looking at the current state of it, along with the pandemic and the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike exposing how broken the industry is, it’s left me thinking this: was the jump and transition to streaming worth in the end? Because at this point, it sucks for everyone involved: the studios, the creatives, and the consumers.
Studios who decided to hop in the game and compete with Netflix by creating their own streaming services have found out that streaming isn’t profitable (or at the very least, it’s nowhere near as profitable as the box office, physical media, VOD, and linear TV) because the revenue generated is almost entirely based on subscriptions. Putting out a show or a movie on a streaming service is practically putting it out for free since those individual titles aren’t generating profit as they would on the aforementioned release avenues. Streamers just have to hope that the release of a show or film on their platform drives enough sign-ups to break even and generate profit. And as a result, studios lose millions, if not billions on their services.
The creatives (specifically the writers and actors striking right now) behind shows and movies made for streamers are getting little to no residuals from them. Writer Kyra Jones shared that the first residual check she got from writing on the ABC show Queens was $12,000. The first residual check she got from writing on the Hulu show Woke was $4. Writer Cody Ziglar’s episode of She-Hulk netted him just $396 in residuals, despite the episode (the one where Daredevil returns) being one the most watched episodes of one of the most watched series on Disney+. Kimiko Glenn, who played Soso on Orange Is the New Black, mentioned that many of the actors on the show still worked second jobs because they weren’t being paid enough to sustain themselves. For shows licensed to streamers, it’s essentially the same. Gilmore Girls, which ran on The WB in the 2000s, has been one of the most popular shows on Netflix since they started streaming it. Sean Gunn, who played Kirk Gleason on the show, said in an interview that he’s seen almost no money from licensing fee Netflix pays Warner Bros. to stream the show.
And for the consumer, the convenience of it has been diluted. In the early days of streaming, it was just Netflix and Hulu, and between the two services, they had pretty much everything you’d need to drop cable. Now there are too many streaming services, and with all the price hikes that occurred in the last few years, just subscribing to a few of the major ones costs the same, if not more, than cable at this point. Not to mention streamers have made it so that we can’t get attached to any original they produce. A streamer puts out a show that’s not an instant hit that you, me, and everyone we know watched, it gets prematurely canceled (Hey remember when Netflix use to save canceled shows? Oh how the tables have turned). And thanks to a certain studio introducing this precedent, prematurely canceled streaming shows now get yanked off the service, written off in taxes, thrown into the abyss, and then banished to the Shadow Realm. And since streaming media rarely get physical releases, they’re to stay in the Shadow Realm, never to be seen again.
As much as it doesn’t feel like it is now, and I think it’s safe to say it’s done more harm than good at this point, streaming is still ultimately the future. There’s no turning back from it unless every service goes under and shuts down. And even if that were to happen, I’m not sure if those who cut the cord are going to want to buy a new one. And as a strong proponent for physical media, nothing would make me happier than to see everyone start buying DVDs and Blu-Rays again and video stores making a comeback - but that’s likely not going to happen either.
I don’t know what the future holds for streaming. Truth be told, I don’t think it will ever be as profitable as physical media, VOD, or linear TV. But that isn’t going to stop from studios from trying to make streaming as profitable as the days of physical media, VOD, and linear TV. I won’t pretend to have the answers here, but it ain’t hard to tell that the current streaming model is unsustainable. Trying to cut costs by replacing writers and actors with AI won’t make streaming more profitable. Continuing to prematurely cancel new shows when they’re not instant smash hits and not giving them the chance to find an audience as well as having streaming services full of one-season shows won’t make it more profitable either.
Streaming may still be the future, but it clearly shouldn’t be relied upon as the primary means of media distribution. Perhaps studios should let films sit on VOD and physical media for longer than they currently do before dropping them on a streaming service. I remember growing up, a new film wouldn’t make it to TV until several months to a year later. And speaking of TV, linear TV may be dying, but it’s a slow death and for the studios who still have broadcast channels, it’s still a way to reach people and get sign-ups. In November of last year, Disney aired the first two episodes of Andor across ABC, FX, and Freeform. Earlier this year, they did this again by airing the pilot episode of The Mandalorian across the networks. And this fall they’re about to do it again with Ms. Marvel (although this is likely more as a result of the fact that they’ll be nothing on TV this fall).
But do you know what could ultimately help? By paying the actors and writers the residuals they deserve, not automating their jobs away, and giving them opportunities and tools to create more new and exciting films and shows, and in the case of television, not prematurely canceling them when they’re not hits straight off the bat and allow them to find audiences.
What do y’all think? Let me know and keep supporting the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Solidarity forever.
