I don’t think I’m alone when I confess that my streaming strategy is a mess. In fact, calling it a strategy is overly kind. I pay for a number of services, all of which cost more every year, and I still keep hearing of shows I want to see on …
Read More »Live TV Is the New Streaming
“Biggest audience since the moon landing.” That was the headline when Nielsen released viewership numbers for Super Bowl 2024. About 123.7 million people in the US watched the game, more than any other game since Nielsen started keeping track and, yes, close to the 125 to 150 million people in …
Read More »Where to Stream 2024’s Best Picture Oscar Nominees
No matter which movie snatches Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, “Barbenheimer” will still go down as the winner. Last summer’s box office face-off between Christopher Nolan’s historical drama about a troubled male genius and the atomic bomb, and Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster comedy about women working together and neon rollerblades, …
Read More »Apple’s Vision Pro Is Trying to Solve a Nearly Unsolvable Problem
Netflix didn’t come to play. Neither did YouTube. Following the Apple Vision Pro’s big preorder rollout two weeks ago, news slowly started to trickle out that neither of those video services would have native apps on Apple’s new spatial computing device. Netflix’s co-CEO, Greg Peters, went on a podcast and …
Read More »Want to Stream With No Ads? That’ll Cost You
A decade ago, cord-cutters prophesied a world free of exorbitant cable bills where everyone binged The Office without intrusions from advertisers. Now, you have to pay extra to not watch commercials on most streaming services. On Monday, Amazon Prime Video became the latest streamer to embrace the ad tax, tacking …
Read More »The Netflix Pivot Is Complete
A few years ago, Netflix fine-tuned its formula for success: original content, no live TV, no ads, and an unrivaled library of movies and series that it can air across the globe. As recently as last year, it mostly stuck to that plan. But as the streaming wars have evolved, …
Read More »A Glimpse at the Future of Streaming in 4 Mind-Blowing Stats
Pea-Max? Para-flix? Regardless of what portmanteau they might end up with, odds are good that streaming services are going to spend a bit of time merging in 2024. Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount were already talking about it at the end of last year, continuing the trend that started when …
Read More »The Emmys Proved Streaming Changed TV for the Better
This year’s Emmys marked the event’s 75th anniversary. As part of the festivities, aired Monday night, the ceremony held cast mini-reunions for some of television’s biggest shows: Cheers, The Arsenio Hall Show, Grey’s Anatomy, Martin, even Game of Thrones. It was a testament to the way TV has infiltrated popular …
Read More »2024 Is Going to Be a Rough Year for TV
Numbers tell the story, even if they’re not precise. “About 130”—that’s how many fewer shows Netflix reportedly released last year versus 2022. “Several hundred”—the estimate of how many people Amazon is said to be laying off in the company’s Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions. The number of scripted shows …
Read More »'Bodies' Is a Fun Time Travel Mystery
The Netflix series Bodies is a time travel mystery about four detectives in different time periods attempting to solve the same murder. TV writer Andrea Kail was immediately captivated by the show’s intriguing premise. “This came up in a list of upcoming shows on Netflix, and I’m like, ‘A detective …
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