Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy Newsletter! My favorite reads, listens, socials and more to keep you informed on the business of entertainment, with the links to my recent writing on my website and elsewhere.
My latest consulting assignment wrapped up, so I’m back on the entertainment business writing beat full-time. In the last week, I posted my first big analysis article since March and my weekly column made a come back. And now my newsletter returns to your inbox.
What an interesting time to come back. We’re starting to have a better grasp of what a post-lockdown world will look like, even if it won’t be “post-Coronavirus”. (Though, as I’ll caution for weeks, we still don’t know what the future holds for Covid-19’s impact on society.) Plus Quibi launched, HBO Max will launch soon, and Peacock will follow it.
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The Best of the Entertainment Strategy Guy
“Is Anyone Watching Apple TV+?” at Decider
Apple TV+ probably has the strangest strategic position in streaming right now. Almost no one defends Apple TV+ for their content or user experience. Instead, the best defense is “Apple has so much money they can’t lose.” In other words, the product may be terrible but if you give it away for free eventually they’ll win by sheer staying power.
So…is anyone watching it right now? Back in April, I looked at the data—such that we have—for Decider and determined, “Not really.” Since then, I haven’t really changed my mind.
“The 2019 Star Wars Business Report – Toys” at my website.
Disney isn’t a power house just because they make lots of money at the box office—which they do—but because they make lots of money selling toys for everything. In my latest analysis article, I explain how this works by focusing on a specific space opera franchise to answer the question, “How Much Money Did Star Wars Make?” Specifically, I focused on merchandise and consumer products. (Read the rest of the series here and here.)
“Most Important Story of the Week: Some Quick Bites on Quibi” at my website.
If I wrote a similar article for Decider asking “Is Anyone watching Quibi?”, I’d probably arrive at a similarly bleak answer. If not more so! I went through some of my favorite takes in my weekly column back in April. That plus Jason Kilar, Disney+ in India and Amazon/Apple truce.
“Most Important Story of the Week: Two Stories for the Price of One Column” at my website.
The biggest story of the last two weeks was Comcast going to war with AMC Theaters (and now all theaters) followed closely by all the HBO Max news I stumbled upon. Plus, I got a line on some PR data about Netflix’s top series by viewing. Check all that out and more.
Twitter Threads
I have lots of Twitter threads from April saved up, so here’s just a selection.
First, I started a series on “aggressively moderate” takes on the future of entertainment after Covid-19. First, theaters.
Second, Pay-TV. (This one is especially valuable. Lots of folks are using the recent cord cutting data to say that Covid-19 caused a rise in cord cutting. It hasn’t.)
Third, last week I explored Netflix’s latest datecdote about Extraction
The Best of The Rest
(These are the best reads, listens, newsletters, or social conversations I came across last week.)
Long Read of the Week - “Can Anyone Make Money in Streaming?” by Tara Lachapelle
Lachapelle is one of my favorite reads on entertainment and she provides the type of nuanced take we need more of in the post-Coronavirus world. She identifies the biggest hurdles for the streamers—losing all the monies—and proposes a few possible solutions. For me, I’d bet on bundles over social, but I love the ideas.
Other Long Read - “Amazon Squeezes Affiliates When They Can Least Afford It” by Tae Kim at Bloomberg
If you’ve noticed on my site, I don’t ever link to Amazon. It’s because I was burned by their affiliate program back in the early days of blogging. As a result, I only buy books from physical stores. (That’s also a personal savings tip.) The affiliate program was one of Amazon’s less talked about, but still important, strategic initiatives to help them build their power base.
But now they’re turning it off, which could hurt a lot of folks right when they need it the most. Is Amazon legally allowed to do this? Sure, but it’s another example of even when it’s PR is at an all time high, Amazon can’t help being Amazon.
Other Long Read - “Why Are College Sports Fans Being Gouged?” By Karen Weaver
Dr. Weaver makes a great connection in her article on how market concentration across industries can have specific impacts in sub-industries. In this case, how college sports can be hurt by consolidation in airlines, broadband and media.
Non-Entertainment Read - “Viruses, Recessions, Imagination and “the End of the Beginning” by Gavin Baker
I’ve been holding onto this article since March. While we could quibble over Baker’s specific prediction—which depending how you count it is
Listen of the Week - On the Media on “The Future of Newspapers”
If you make or consume media, you should listen to this WNYC podcast. In particular, their recent episode on the future of local news is dire, informative and hopeful. You’ll learn a ton in this hour.
Newsletter of the Week -- The Chaotic Factory by Cal Newport
I’ve long thought that if we applied the same rules we apply to manufacturing factories to our office spaces, we’d be wayyyyyy more productive. Newport makes that point in his latest.
Twitter Threads
First, follower Sam White organized a charity video game tournament. Help out if you can!
Second, Netflix Films Reviewed—a great follow too—had two tweet threads on Extraction that inspired me.
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(If this email was forwarded to you, and you’re wondering who I am, The Entertainment Strategy Guy writes under this pseudonym at his eponymous website. A former exec at a streaming company, he prefers writing to sending emails/attending meetings, so he launched his own website. You can follow him on Twitter or Linked-In for regular thoughts and analysis on the business, strategy and economics of the media and entertainment industry.)