How do creators and corporations make money when attention is the real currency?
1. The Subscription War We have hit "Subscription Fatigue." The average consumer pays for four streaming services. In response, we are seeing a return of ads (Netflix Basic with Ads) and bundling (Disney+/Hulu/ESPN). The future is likely "aggregators" that manage fragmented subscriptions. UsePOV.24.04.29.Miss.Raquel.Creamy.Glaze.XXX.10... %7CTOP%7C
2. Creator Economy 2.0 Influencers are no longer just endorsing products; they are building brands. MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) doesn’t just make videos; he owns a burger chain (MrBeast Burger) and a chocolate company (Feastables). The line between popular media personality and CEO is gone. How do creators and corporations make money when
3. Licensing & IP Intellectual Property is the oil of the 21st century. Why did Warner Bros. make a Barbie movie? Because the toy itself is a media property. Films are now "two-hour commercials" for merchandise, theme parks (Universal’s Epic Universe), and sequels. Original screenplays are riskier; recognizable IP is safer. In response, we are seeing a return of
Perhaps the most significant shift in the last five years is the death of the "Hollywood Monoculture." Entertainment content is now a global currency.
We are months away (not years) from watching full episodes of shows with our face swapped onto the protagonist's body. Tools like Sora (OpenAI) can generate realistic video from text. Soon, you won't watch Friends; you will watch an AI-generated episode of Friends where you are the seventh roommate. This raises massive copyright and ethical questions.