To appreciate where we are, we must look at where we came from. For most of the 20th century, popular media was a monolith. In the United States, if you turned on the television on a Monday night, you were likely watching M A S H* or Monday Night Football . If you went to the movies, you saw one of a handful of studio blockbusters. The "watercooler moment"—that shared cultural touchstone discussed the next day at work—was a genuine phenomenon.
The cracks are showing. Users are suffering from "subscription fatigue" (the average American pays for 4-5 streaming services). Meanwhile, ad-supported tiers are making a comeback because the growth ceiling of subscriptions has been hit. The future is likely a hybrid model: "Freemium" entertainment, where you watch free with ads, or pay to remove them.