Patrick and I went deep into topics including the Metaverse (its technical challenges, opportunities, and philosophy), IP and the role of business model and technical innovation in storytelling, the Unreal Engine, Cloud Gaming, Fortnite as a competitor to Spotify, and more.

Streaming content spend needs to be handicapped based on the ability of a network to create hits and a library of value. As a result, the gap between the biggest and smallest spenders is tighter than the topline numbers suggest.

We’ll see an accelerated end of Pay-TV subscribers and ad revenues, more competition OTT, and several of Netflix’s short-term woes get worse

I join Ben Thompson’s Stratechery for a podcast on digital theme parks, Bob Iger and the fallacy of Netflix v Disney and Content v Distribution

What’s happening to Pay-TV in 2020 isn’t just more OTT competition and higher prices. It is instead something new and unprecedented in media: the systemic undermining and defunding of a business with years and years of life left

Here, I touch on how each service will initially and then need to position themselves, the flaws of the “race to scale” and the overlooked importance of execution, why Disney+ was so successful, and more.

The most popular narratives hide the truth of competition, scalability, and monetization.

For all of Disney’s success in the media industry and with Disney+, its SVOD lessons are remarkably conventional and broadly applicable

After a long, arduous day of staring at your computer screen at work, sometimes nothing feels better than staring at your computer screen at home. But who owns that screen? We dive into the streaming wars to find out.

Co-written with Hulu’s former Head of Content Acquisition Alex Kruglov.

If media matters to consumers, but they won’t spend a lot on it, the efficient use of content is to drive other businesses that have better (and bigger) economics. And this is exactly what’s happening.

The new streaming service is an important cog in the Disney machine

As the number of platforms and scripted programmes has increased, the shows celebrated at the awards have become more obscure

As media monoliths bundle their offerings, consumers will once again have to pay for a bunch of shows they don’t want. Only these will have an agenda.

Viacom had the culture to not only survive in the digital era, but to thrive. Why did it fall and how will it come back?

Another day, another box office disappointment. Or record. Or franchise hit. Or franchise RIP. Or indie sleeper. Or indie sleep-with-the-fishes. What's going on?

Three decades in and a lot of bucks spent, OTT competition has clarified. Though not in ways that were expected.

The most enduring argument for Netflix's eventual fall isn't about content rights or competition, but of balance sheets and downturns. And it was valid. Was.

A small number of companies will win the streaming “battle royale,” says former Amazon Studios strategist Matthew Ball. Amazon is “guaranteed” to be one of them, he says.

Netflix has faced many challengers over the past decade, but growth hasn't slowed. Many more are about to come. But the effects are likely to be neutral at worst.

Distributors of content tend to be evaluated on the basis of their content. But focusing on Netflix's "quality" is a mistake. Not only does the notion barely exist, it mistakes Netflix's "job to be done."

What's exciting about OTT video isn't the way it's delivered, but how it will change content itself.

Disney may be entering the SVOD market late and without much of its best content, but Disney+ is going to thrive. And while some of the reasons are evident, most remain overlooked or misunderstood.

2019 is supposed to be the year Big Media comes after Netflix and the OTT SVOD opportunity. It isn't. And that's great news for Netflix.

Not all 'Original Series' deserve the label they're given. The reasons why may seem academic, but they tell you a lot about what that network does, why and how they compare.

A lot of hope is being put into internet-based pay-TV services such as SlingTV and DirecTV Now. But to survive, these services will need to prove four things. And they're currently 0-4.