Hollywood Nostalgia
The fact that the Hollywood actor and writer strikes (the first time both have gone on strike at the same time in more than 60 years) have not led the online news cycle speaks volumes. Simply put, consumers now have viable video alternatives to Hollywood. In the past week, none of my video content consumption came from professional actors or writers. That isn’t meant to be a knock on such professions but rather a reflection on societal, technological, and behavioral changes. Instead of sitting down to watch a 30-minute TV show or 120-minute movie, my content consumption patterns are more likely to be measured in YouTube minutes or Twitter clips.
A common refrain in tech land has been to look at the Hollywood strikes as byproducts of video streaming, shoulder shrug at those in the weaker position, and then move on. Of course, the paid streamers depend on those striking for content. Some, like Netflix, have built-in diversification in terms of geography. Netflix can simply rely on production crews outside the U.S. to help buttress some of the impact. However, no paid streamer can truly escape the strikes.
The Hollywood strikes should be a wake-up call for distributors and studios about how their actions taken to navigate the ultra-competitive landscape have made things worse.
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