Ironically, as we drown in digital content, there is a growing hunger for analog experiences. The success of live events (Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, Formula 1 races, immersive theaters) proves that the most valuable entertainment content in the future may be the kind you cannot screenshot. The pendulum may swing back toward shared, physical, un-skippable experiences.
To understand where entertainment is going, we must first look at where it has been. For most of the 20th century, popular media operated as a monoculture . In the United States, for example, the "Big Three" networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) dictated what millions watched each night. The M A S H* finale drew over 100 million viewers. Everyone knew who shot J.R. on Dallas . SexMex.18.05.26.Marian.Franco.First.Time.XXX.10...
Today, your "prime time" is whenever you unlock your phone. Your "network" is an algorithm. The result is a fragmentation of reality. A teenager on TikTok lives in a different popular media universe than a retiree watching Fox News or a cinephile on Letterboxd. We are no longer sharing the same campfire; we are all tending our own digital sparks. Ironically, as we drown in digital content, there