Risk aversion leads to monotony
Streaming platforms seem to be in a state of trial and error, heavily relying on quick viral success to decide a show’s fate. This scattergun strategy reveals an industry still grappling to understand what audiences want. By cluttering their catalogs with volume in hopes of finding hits, they tend to overlook high-quality productions for broader, more immediately gratifying content, streamlining their focus toward mass appeal.
This fear of not capturing what works means that we see the same IP and story tropes told over and over again. There is a lot of talk about “superhero fatigue,” but we don’t talk enough about “procedural fatigue,” where the same show with different settings and casts are made over and over again as long as there is a market for them.
Innovation and newness denote risk. It means as streaming service customers we see the same shows and movies over and over again, with little or nothing to watch or engage us. When searching for fantasy or newness we continue to scroll, hoping for something that will pop out with its eccentricity and differentiation. It’s the pop music-ification of visual entertainment. Art is not art, but a commodity that must be popular enough for the masses to endure.
This fixation on instant popularity stifles the potential of niche and unique genres, making it hard for thoughtful, original shows to shine. Reality TV and easily digestible programming often overshadow more complex storytelling, flooding the market with entertainment that values ease over engagement. As a result, quality art is replaced by content that requires minimal thought and effort from its viewers. These programs provide the viewership necessary to be deemed successful, even if those shows are hate-watched.
As Empire writer Ben Travis so profoundly stated, “Streaming services are over-feeding and starving their audiences at the same time.” We are at the entertainment equivalent of having too many clothes and yet nothing to wear, because nothing speaks to us. It’s all a commodified landscape of intellectual beige in the background so you don’t have to turn your brain on while you watch.
The disparity in marketing efforts
Adding another layer to this issue is the obvious disparity in marketing support for different shows. Some series receive widespread promotional efforts, saturating media channels, while others are left in the shadows with minimal attention. This uneven marketing means that some shows get canceled before many potential viewers even heard of them, frustrating audiences who feel they never had a chance to discover new content that might have resonated with them.
This marketing imbalance leads to disappointment, as dedicated viewers often react with surprise or anger upon learning about the cancellation of a show they never even knew existed. The perceived randomness of marketing efforts undercuts the discoverability of shows and amplifies frustrations when only those heavily promoted manage to break through the surface.