Has SVoD hit the bu ers?

How much would you expect to make as the star, co-writer and coproducer of a film that rose to become the number one movie on Netflix? I bet it wasn’t just US$17,000.

But that’s how much comedian and actor Eric André claims he made from Bad Trip, his hidden-camera prank comedy released globally on Netflix in March 2021. Granted, the film suffered colossal bad luck, having initially been primed for cinemas 12 months earlier before having its release postponed indefinitely due to Covid-19.

Still, you’d think having a hit movie on a global streamer would do a bit more for your bank balance than working just over minimum wage for a year.

“I made zero dollars. The movie took sevenand-a-half years to make and I probably netted 17,000 bucks,” André told The Howard Stern Show recently.

It’s an extreme example of how the economics of the subscription streaming model don’t always add up. Hence the disputes at the centre of the ongoing US writers’ strike (page 8) and the course correction at global media giants, where the reliability of the advertising-funded model and third-party licensing are acting as a balm to the volatility of SVoD.

Luckily for André, he still has The Eric Andre Show on US cablenet Adult Swim and the recently launched The Prank Panel on ABC to pay the bills.

It may have its detractors, but traditional linear TV is back in fashion with talent frustrated with a streaming model that so often sees their projects flash before the eyes of viewers before disappearing deep within a carousel.

The tide has been turning against SVoD ever since Netflix announced its first subscriber losses for a decade in July last year. In the US, the upstart alternative, in the form of free adsupported streaming TV (FAST), is building up a head of steam – although as our report on page 12 highlights, it will remain a thin slice of the overall media pie in the years to come.

Moreover, in markets such as Central and Eastern Europe, FAST remains what you do after one too many pierogis rather than a place to find freely available reruns of Baywatch, Kitchen Nightmares and other library programming distributors have dusted off for the AVoD treatment elsewhere in Europe and North America.

It feels like a long time since an exec has risen above the parapet and defended the old-school pay TV model, but Warner Bros Discovery’s Jamie Cooke does just that on page 15 ahead of his keynote at C21’s Content Budapest from June 27 to 29. As old business models come back into vogue, it’s fitting C21 is reviving the traditional boat party at the event. See you on the Danube!

Nico Franks

THE C21 CONTENT TRENDS REPORT: Summer 2023

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How artificial intelligence is central to the writers’ strike, the future of the TV industry – and maybe much more.

FAST remains a hot topic thanks to its rapid growth, with hundreds of channels launching. But what does its future hold?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Jamie Cooke

Warner Bros Discovery is aiming to ‘pepper’ its CEE schedules with local originals, according to its general manager in the region.

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: B Corp certification & TV

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NEXT BIG THINGS: Animated documentaries

How far can using animation in docs overcome a lack of archive, rights problems and di iculties in attracting a young audience?

CONTENT STRATEGIES: Viasat World

The CEE pay broadcaster reveals its content needs for branded factual channels Explore, History and Nature, plus scripted network Epic Drama.

MY BIG BREAK: Connie Fisher

The head of development at Wildflame Productions describes her journey from on-screen talent show fame to success o -camera as a creative executive.

DEVELOPMENT SLATE: Media Res

Former Banijay exec Lars Blomgren talks about his international content priorities and the challenges the US-based production studio faces.

PRESENT IMPERFECT FUTURE TENSE

Scott Kirkpatrick, executive VP of coproductions and distribution at Nicely Entertainment, explains why you should be excited about the impact of AI on TV.

The first American writers’ strike in 15 years is creating chaos in the US market and only promises to get worse as scribes and studios wait for each other to blink.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has officially been on strike since May 2 after failing to reach a new deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the major US studios in labour negotiations.

As talks collapsed just ahead of the May 1 deadline, the WGA claimed the “studios’ responses have been wholly insufficient given the existential crisis writers are facing,” while the AMPTP said that it had presented a “comprehensive package proposal” including “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals.”

According to the WGA, its own proposal would cost the industry an additional US$429m annually, with US$343m coming from the eight largest studios: Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros Discovery, Paramount Global, NBCUniversal, Amazon, Sony and Apple.

While many had predicted writers would down tools in what has repeatedly been billed as a ‘generational strike’ over pay, streamingera residuals, the size of writers’ rooms and artificial intelligence, there is a growing sense that it could last three months or potentially significantly more, such is the gap between the two sides on key issues.

Many have suggested the studios secretly welcomed the strike, as it allows them to suspend or cancel costly overall deals and reduce the number of shows they are producing.

And while that may be the case, it is also creating enormous headaches for studios, with dozens of shows shutting down production either temporarily or for the duration of the strike.

Among those shutting down production until a new deal is reached is Max comedy Hacks, while others such as Netflix’s Stranger Things have postponed the start of production indefinitely until the strike ends. Other high-profile writers’ rooms closed for the length of the strike include those for Showtime’s Yellowjackets and HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight

Understandably, tensions are high