There was a time when emerging streamers ran from the idea of pinning themselves down with anything as transparent as ratings and the data to back them. That era, it seems, is firmly over. In the early days of streaming, freedom from traditional Nielsen ratings was seen as an advantage and key selling point, a way to assess quality, not popular appeal. Today? Not so much. Early streaming gains seemed to promise indefinite availability for shows and steady residual payments for creators. However, that promised landscape has changed. Blake & Wang P.A entertainment lawyer in the USA, Brandon Blake, takes a deeper look.
The End of Data Hoarding?
You need only peek at the tumultuous strike climate to see how well those murky promises of increased residuals worked out. With pandemic- and recession-driven budget constraints, there has also been a wave of reversed series orders, dropped renewals, and the mysterious removal of library titles from streaming platforms. Creators are now left with limited information about their work's performance, and thus its value to them and the streamer alike.
For many, the now-notorious hoarding of data by streaming companies is seen to have hindered the establishment of a cross-platform ‘currency’ for measuring success, not fostered real development in the entertainment space as once thought. For a while, the massive boom in streaming offset this. As we see consolidation and streamlining becoming the key words of the day, however, that climate has changed as everyone fights for their space in the ‘new normal.’
More Data, More Transparency
This lack of transparency has become a key point of contention in the Hollywood strikes, for one. While the AMPTP offered to release quarterly reports on total streaming viewing time, it doesn't appear in the current contract negotiations. SAG-AFTRA's proposal to use third-party metrics for revenue sharing was also rejected.
Industry experts speculate that streaming companies may be unwilling to share viewership data to avoid revealing failures, fearful it will impact their share prices. Either that, or they’re hoping to conceal big profits. Either way, other players in the Hollywood environment now want to know exactly what’s going on behind the data curtain.
It's crystal clear that the streaming landscape is now evolving into its refinement era, ironically in a way that greatly resembles traditional television. Ad-supported services are on the rise, and studios are pursuing broad-appeal stories. Is it time for greater transparency industry-wide? From the greater sentiment, it definitely appears so.
