Why is (Streaming) TV So Much More Popular than Movies?
What is the last Oscar nominated movie you watched in the theater?
It's been argued the ‘90s were a Golden Age for Hollywood films. Think: auteur-driven productions like Kevin Smith’s Clerks (1994), Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994), Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Good Will Hunting (1997), and James Cameron’s Titanic (1997).
These films achieved not only critical acclaim and box office success, but also a shelf full of Academy Awards and a permanent place in our cultural zeitgeist. Although Tinseltown continues to produce quality work—2016’s Moonlight and 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians come to mind—Hollywood’s major studios now focus almost entirely on “blockbuster” and “tentpole” films.
Why is that?
For starters, these tend to feature established brand names (Marvel, Star Wars, etc.), sequels, reboots, and lots and lots of CGI. In other words, they are more “sure things.” Yes, they may cost a lot to produce, but the built-in fan base—plus all those bells and whistles, i.e., jaw-dropping action sequences are bound to pull in paying moviegoers.
That’s all fine and good for the movie studios. In the meantime, much of the real creative work—and our national cultural conversation—has turned to what’s traditionally been Hollywood’s red-headed stepchild, television.
Could this shift to the small screen have something to do with the Attention Economy? Specifically, might it be due to how the immediacy of social media, on-demand viewing, and prime shipping have shaped how we wish to enjoy content?
Absolutely.
The rise of so-called “binge shows,” starting with AMC’s Breaking Bad (2008-2013) and Netflix’s House of Cards (2013-2018), continuing through the decade with HBO’s Game of Thrones (2011-2019) and Netflix’s Black Mirror (2011-2019), to current cultural obsessions like Yellowstone (Paramount Network), Succession (HBO), and The Last of Us (also HBO), we are seeing an unprecedented shift in audience preferences and viewing habits.
Knowing all this, what does this portend for the future of the Attention Economy? Especially when it comes to getting more eyeballs on the content we produce? Let’s discuss.
How we experience media in 2023 has changed profoundly since the
‘90s. First, consider the technical. In the last quarter-century, bulky analog CRT monitors have given way to 4K digital flatscreens and projection systems—some large enough to cover entire walls.
Enabling eye-popping visuals, not to mention, heart-stopping surround sound—these all but recreate the theatrical experience—yet at home. At the same time, smartphones, laptop computers, and iPads, combined with our ubiquitous wi-fi access, permit us to watch movies, TV shows, and videos virtually anywhere on the planet. Even while driving.
As a result, consuming media has become a more personal experience than it was in the past. Now add the growing cost and inconveniences of going to an actual cinema, as well as changing habits driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s no surprise a growing number of people in all age groups are opting to watch content at home rather than in theaters.
But it’s not just tech that’s shifting our media consumption habits.
It’s the content itself. The colossal costs of motion picture production—the average feature now runs between $50 and $100 million—has forced studios to “hedge their bets” by concentrating on remakes, sequels, and reboots of established properties. Again, “sure things.”
What’s more, the surfeit of creativity in these bloated, CGI-driven “blockbusters” has led to audience ennui and a precipitous decline in theater attendance. At the same time, the proliferation of streaming services and content-on-demand has driven TV creators to stress originality to generate “buzz” and capture discriminating audiences.
Meanwhile, a pragmatic use of Big Data is also playing an increasingly vital role in what TV shows are being greenlit and then renewed. It all began 10 years ago when Netflix sought a way to compete with rivals Hulu and Amazon Prime, both of which were cutting into the company’s dominance with their own original programming.
Using numbers pulled from its 30 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix used an advanced algorithm to determine that viewers who watched the original House of Cards, a 1990 British political drama to which it owned the rights, also liked films starring Spacey and films directed by David Fincher.
Informed by this intel—and combining these preferences—Netflix tapped series creator Beau Willimon to fashion an Americanized version to star the aforementioned Kevin Spacey with a pilot directed by Mr. Fincher (who would also serve as executive producer).
The final piece of genius? Drop all Season 1 episodes at the same time. This allowed viewers to “binge” the show until their eyeballs burst.
This leads to a related question: What determines if a show gets renewed? For Netflix, it’s a complex formula the company guards jealously.
Yet observers believe it does include numbers related to total viewership, how fast audiences gorge on episodes, how many complete a season, and how many new subscribers the show can attract. (Netflix figures that once a viewer subscribes, he/she is unlikely to unsubscribe.)
All this has societal implications.
In the 1950s and 1960s, networks simply wanted you to avoid “touching that dial.” Today? The imperative is to create shows that give you a reason to watch. Perhaps even more importantly, shows that give you a reason to subscribe to the services that stream them.
As the Attention Economy continues to gather steam, can we look forward to more and more TV shows developed House-of-Cards-style, leveraging Big Data—and now AI—to one day determine the premises, plots, and even casting choices? Even the renewal decisions?
Perhaps. Or perhaps that’s a topic for another article coming soon—one not written by ChatGPT.
For now, one thing is clear. With TV giving us a seemingly endless buffet of goodies fashioned to our individual tastes, what will it take for us to regularly venture into movie theaters again?
Thank you for reading. If you like what you just read, please subscribe for more content. We write about how technology is transforming how we create and consume sports, movies, videos, TV, games, and social media. Any opinions or forecasts contained herein reflect the personal and subjective judgments and assumptions of the author only.