More Streaming Choices Means More IP Mining

 Wednesday I talked about brands making their own streaming services, which only increases the number of streaming services.  A problem for the streaming services as the number of them multiplies is the problem a lot of us authors already deal with:  how to get attention?  Having a lot more resources and money than someone like me, streaming services do what movie studios have done for decades now:  find an Intellectual Property (IP) to mine.

Like for instance, Hulu (owned by Disney) announced it was going to bring back Futurama next year.  The announcement got a boost when Bender's voice actor (John DiMaggio) refused to return without a big pay raise.  Which if you think about it is pretty much in character.  If they don't work things out, then I guess the first episode will have Bender lose his voice and get a new sound card.

Meanwhile Amazon has a new Lord of the Rings show coming.  Peacock has a Quantum Leap reboot.  Paramount+ has a bunch of Star Trek shows, a HALO show coming out next month, and signed the creators of South Park to do a bunch of movies exclusively to their service, despite that the actual show is on HBO Max.  Speaking of, HBO Max is greenlighting DC Comics movies like Batgirl and shows spinning out of movies like Peacemaker.  Disney+ has a ton of new Star Wars and Marvel shows in the pipeline.  Netflix has had a bunch of IPs like Cobra Kai, Fuller House, He-Man, She-Ra, Voltron, and of course Marvel shows before Disney+ was created.  Even House of Cards was based on a book/British miniseries.  Apple is taking a different tack by doing less IPs and just bringing in a lot of big stars like Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, etc. as noted in a commercial starring Jon Hamm, who was complaining about being left out.

The thing is that if you want to get attention, brand new original content isn't going to cut it.  You've either got to bring back something that already died (2-3 times for Futurama) or it has to at least be tied to something that already existed like the DC, Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek stuff.  Wholly original content just isn't going to get attention--until it does like Squid Game or Ted Lasso.

With so many services there's the need to attract consumers and so you need to find some big attention-getting announcement.  Just saying, "We have a new show" doesn't make the grade.  Saying, "We're bringing back this cult favorite show that died 10 years ago!" gets a lot more attention.  Or, "We're adapting this comic book not that many people read!"

As the number of streaming services grows and the competition increases, services are only going to feel more pressure to find more and more IPs to mine.  Which is good if you're someone who created or worked on a TV, movie, or comic book in the last 70 years.  Your turn at bat is probably coming, which means it's pay day!

But being a Grumpy Bulldog, a lot of these don't really excite me.  I loved Futurama, but it ended almost 10 years ago with a brilliant finale.  Why piss that away for 2 10-episode seasons before it gets cancelled again?

Streaming services being owned by big, faceless, heartless corporations don't really care about issues like that.  They just want attention because attention means more subscribers, which means more money, which means higher stock prices, which means more bonuses.  I'm sure the people who actually work on these shows will try their best, but a lot of these things are destined to fade away.

People like me whine, "Why can't they make anything original?"  But how much original content do I watch?  Some, but probably not as much as I could.  In part it's because with all these IPs it's harder to find original content; the IPs suck up a lot of the attention and who's going to drill down menus to find something else if you don't have to?  I get home from work, I don't feel like surfing menus to find something; it's easier to just click that big ad for whatever new IP show on Disney+, Hulu, or Amazon.

I've said it before, but this is the problem for authors too.  People aren't going to take the time to search for new authors and new stories.  After a hard day's work they'll just pick up whatever Stephen King, John Grisham, or James Patterson is at the top of the bestseller list.  Which keeps those authors at the top of the bestseller list, so people keep buying them...it's an endless cycle.  Sometimes not even death can stop it, as in the case of Tom Clancy, who by now has probably put out more books in death than he did in life.

Anyway, tying back to Wednesday's entry, those IPs that don't get picked up by a big streaming service (or get cancelled as in the case of MST3K) can always go it alone if they can raise the money.  That just keeps blowing the bubble bigger and bigger and you know it's eventually going to burst.  Hopefully a lot of people who worked on IPs can cash in before that happens.  You can see why then John DiMaggio wants more money; he knows the gravy train isn't going to last forever.  Got to get what you can while you can.  That's the American way!