Category: streaming (page 1 of 1)

A bright yellow poster on a city street pole reads ‘Creators Live Here.’ The background is softly out of focus, showing palm trees, buildings, and passing cars in a sunny urban neighborhood.
Photo by George Pagan III on Unsplash
January 9, 2026 / 0 Comments

Joy is the Signal

Dylan Byers said something on an end-of-2025 episode of The Grill Room that stuck with me (paraphrasing):

The best media story of the year is about people who have created something on their own. I don’t know what their long game is as businesses, but they’re definitely having fun. And it’s joyful. I spend a lot of time in my inbox with people who are very upset at their media organizations. It’s nice to look out and see a younger generation genuinely enjoying themselves.

It crystallized something I’d already been feeling.

I noticed it at Bloomberg ScreenTime in 2024, right after I was laid off from Paramount: the vibes in legacy media were bleak, while the energy around podcasters, independent journalists, and digital studio mini-moguls was fully lit. Those in the Creator Economy were the ones with the glint in their eye, big dreams of making it, and often with impeccable skin.

No one knows the long-term financial viability of going out on your own—or the sustainability of always operating as an individual or a small team—but the joy is unmistakable. The people who leapt look alive.

I remember that feeling from the halcyon days of blogging, when staying up late to post on my little website—or editing LAist back when it was just a city blog—felt more energizing than my very cool TV job. One of the mindfucks of getting older is failing to recognize when those shifts are happening again. Or worse, greeting them with skepticism instead of curiosity.

That might explain why my initial reaction to Evan Shapiro’s rollout of his Attention Economy chart last fall was dismissive. It felt undercooked. Unlike his meticulous maps of legacy media, this one didn’t really show how creator businesses make money. Lumping creators, streamers, influencers, and brands together without distinction doesn’t help those of us trying to navigate what this ecosystem actually is.

Shapiro’s follow-up conversation with his co-host Marion Ranchet was more satisfying. They acknowledged the chart’s limitations and explained why mapping the ecosystem, rather than breaking down the financials, was necessary. Creators aren’t lone wolves. They’re small media companies that rely on platforms, agencies, white-label studios, and contractors to provide their teams.

For legacy media professionals contemplating the jump, that matters. The most abundant opportunities may not be in front of the camera or mic, or even directly with a creator doing those things, but in the infrastructure—joining partner companies or building businesses that serve new creatives in aggregate.

That entrepreneurial leap is the hardest part for those of us raised in corporate systems, where being excellent at a narrow role was enough. Clock in, clock out, collect a paycheck. Creators don’t work that way. They live to work—partly because the competition for attention is ruthless, and also because they love it. They expect collaborators to bring that same energy.

I include myself among those who need to get over themselves—and over our judgments about what “counts” as media in 2026. We’re not going back. I may never fully embrace the pejorative use of “plot-based media,” but I also have to admit: my wife is just as likely to find me watching a reactor video on YouTube as she would find me deeply engaged in a prestige drama on HBO.

What earns my attention is joy. Enthusiasm is infectious. I listen and watch because I can feel that the people making this stuff want to be there.

I still worry about the creator business model—financially and operationally—when you’re the sole proprietor, star, and producer of your own mini-media empire. Not everyone becomes a Joe Rogan, Joe Budden, MrBeast, or Ms. Rachel. But a “Creator Middle Class” is emerging. One that can control its business, build direct relationships with its audience, and sustain a career without celebrity status.

For those of us who love plot-based media and accept how much we’ve grown to enjoy the attention-based kind, the real work is figuring out where we fit in and having the humility to recognize that joy, not legacy, may be the clearest signal of where the future already lies between these two worlds.

Your Event Has Ended graphic from ESPN
April 7, 2025 / 0 Comments

Your Event Has Ended

The South Carolina Gamecocks had just defeated the Texas Longhorns in the first Women’s Final Four game on Friday night. After Holly Rowe completed her post-game interviews, Ryan Ruocco announced that we would be sent to the post-game show with Elle Duncan, Andraya Carter, and Chiney Ogwumike for about 30 minutes while the UCONN Huskies and UCLA Bruins warmed up for the day’s closing semifinal. Instead of smoothly transitioning to that broadcast, which was delivered via the same linear feed, the ESPN app displayed a static image:

There was no on-screen promo pushing me to the next best program, no transition to the next game, and no reduction of the viewing window to show the homepage or a tile pack of suggested titles. As a long-time subscriber of ESPN+ and a user of the ESPN app, I found this experience frustrating. One can only imagine how a new subscriber, attracted to the platform for the first time by the NCAAW tournament, might feel.

I’m not picking on the Worldwide Leader, however. Every Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) service struggles with transitioning from live events to on-demand content.

In recent weeks, I’ve pondered the new sports subscriber experience. I’ve had discussions about a project to understand how to engage new customers of a premium streaming service who signed up during a major sporting event. I proposed a study exploring viewer appetite, interests, and behavioral patterns. This research could inform programming, promotional tactics, and merchandising. My goal was to identify and establish optimal routines for exploration, content diversity, and frequency that could be introduced before these likely single-purpose users canceled or became inactive.


We weren’t on the same page.

“I want to know what they’ll want to watch three months later,” the potential client said.

“You won’t have the opportunity,” I replied.

Netflix might have the “champagne problem” of considering future viewing patterns for new subscribers gained from live events. According to Antenna, although they are relatively new to the live sports arena, its one-month retention for new subscribers from the Mike Tyson/Jake Paul fight night was better than the industry standard. Most of their competition, however, isn’t as fortunate. If your service has not encouraged sports subscribers to sample anything beyond the games or leagues they initially signed up for by the time that event concludes, your chances of re-engaging them later are slim.

These subscribers will likely cancel or disengage from your platform until the next season or event. You might win them back when the event returns, but trying to predict their consumption habits three months later without laying the groundwork during the initial onboarding is unrealistic.

Back to March Madness. ESPN provides at least four different ways to watch the Final Four games. You would only discover this by exploring the app. There was promotion for the Taurasi & Bird alt-cast during event programming and on socials, but not for the other options. I noticed fans on Threads wishing they could watch the game without commentary, just statistics. There was a feed for that, but they didn’t know where to find it, even while watching the game in one of the Disney-owned apps. ESPN never promoted their ongoing shoulder content on other channels after the games ended. ESPN frequently failed to recommend their women’s basketball programming library throughout the season.

No, most frequently, I get “Your Event Has Ended” or “Your Event Will Return Shortly” (and by shortly, they mean 10-15 minutes).

Linear live events pose challenges, but doing nothing shouldn’t be an option.

Do you have an “always-on” channel to transition viewers? What hinders smart switching from one live event to another relevant program in progress? Can you tease clickable alternate programming during events, especially during downtime? Would running house ads instead of the end card be feasible? Could you limit the time of end cards and eventually close the video window, redirecting viewers back to the homepage or displaying recommendations?

A static image or, worse, a complete blackout at the end of the program will not entice most users to continue watching.

You must train your audience to navigate your app and discover its complementary content.

Sports subscribers intentionally come for their favorite sport, team, or a specific game/match/event they find significant. Once that need is satisfied, it’s easy for them to unsubscribe. This is why every broadcast network uses sports to promote its other programming, and the Super Bowl often transitions directly into a show that is expected to appeal to the largest audience.

SVODs continue to neglect this issue at their own risk.

“Your Event Has Ended.”

Yup, and so could my subscription.