I haven't watched pro wrestling with any regularity for years now, but I still keep up with the business news aspect of it. A photo circulated lately of an episode of RAW that was...rather sparsely attended. Like, maybe 500 people in a 15,000-seat arena. You can't blame it on the 'rona, either, because those NFL stadiums certainly look full on a weekly basis. Something very interesting happens, however, when you take a look at this crowd and compare that image to WWE's quarterly business reports. They're absolutely killing it, raking in more revenue and net income than they ever have. Vince McMahon is truly a genius, first and foremost for the simple fact that he has managed to take a fake sport and sell it to so many people - myself included. But the most genius thing this guy has ever pulled off in his long life of achievement has been figuring out how to be a profitable professional wrestling company...without fans.
This led me to another epiphany: this achievement can essentially be said for the entertainment world as a whole in 2022.
Once upon a time, entertainment companies needed fans to be invested in their product in order to be profitable. Attending movies, buying merchandise, contributing to a Nielsen rating so that the network could charge confiscatory advertising rates, all ways that a passionate fan could send money the way of the people responsible for making their entertainment. Those metrics are all a thing of the past. Despite box office numbers and TV ratings being historically low, what isn't low is the amount of content that these people produce. Content is the name of the game in 2022, and the mammoth check NBC cuts to WWE every year for that holy content is the proof. The advent of streaming has meant that they don't compete for hearts anymore. They don't worry about convincing people that this movie is worth ten dollars of your money, or that this television show is worth sitting through 17 minutes of commercials. All they need now is your click, and in the end, it doesn't even matter if they get that because they already have your $13.99 a month.
I'm a movie person, not a TV person. As such, I'm definitely in the minority when it comes to the landscape these days. Streaming services cater largely to fans of more episodic storytelling and binge-watching. But the following analogy, culled shamelessly from the Red Letter Media crew, holds true for the streaming world. The films and shows that you consume are like food. There might be a film-maker with a pedigree of success that you've been a fan of for years with a new movie being released. Going to see this film is like going to a five-star restaurant and ordering a $50 entree with a wine pairing. Streaming is like the buffet. A lot of it won't be touched, some of it might even be thrown out, but it's always stocked. It's very convenient and difficult to resist, and I'm just as guilty as everyone else. I currently subscribe to nine services. I may not consume 95% of my watchlists, but it's certainly there if I ever decide to risk that B rating from the health inspector and take a bite.
For decades, consumers were forced to be discerning with where they spent their money and time. The world has changed, and if I give the current entertainment barons nothing else, they are smart. They have figured out how to be profitable regardless of how people watch what they produce. But if we can't be discerning with our money and time, we can be discerning with our clicks. Do your research about that show that looks like it might be too woke for you. You don't have to watch it! Read up on that film that you're thinking about watching on a boring Sunday, and see if it sounds like it fits with your palate before pushing that button. It's not the same as a ratings point, but those clicks do matter. It's the reason that Cobra Kai, the lone TV series that I still invest my time and money in, hasn't taken a nose-dive in quality. If Netflix started foistering their genius ideas on them, they have the click numbers to say, "screw you, we're taking this to Amazon Prime." The same can be true for other series, or even films. And films are my bread and butter.
We live in an era where icons on a screen have replaced movie theaters and cable boxes. I know there's no going back to the way things used to be. But I worry sometimes that we're never going to get another Citizen Kane, or another Apocalypse Now, or another The Shining, or another Pulp Fiction. We might not even get another WrestleMania X-Seven. Right now, the status quo is all we get everywhere when it comes to feature films, with the Marvel theme park rides being the only thing that people deem worthy of going to see in theaters and homogenized, PC claptrap being the norm when it comes to the internet originals. I've already told people who are tired of superhero cinema and want something else to do what I've done since 2015 and stop going to them (and no, folks, you didn't accomplish anything by making Spider-Man: No Way Home a megahit; the only thing you did was tell them that nostalgia bait was what they have in their arsenal when they hit a wall and need to finance their next eight films). When it comes to movies, pick and choose with extreme prejudice. Dig deep and find the stuff that fits your personal definition of what is "good." Make them WORK for your click - and if there aren't enough click-worthy items on *insert streaming service of the month*, cancel it.
Pass up on that lukewarm piece of chicken and go for the Wagyu steak.
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