The old model (publishers, studios, labels) is dead. You can distribute globally from a laptop. But the new model is not "go it alone." It is finding partners—editors, producers, curators—who share your standards for better content. The Future of Better Entertainment What will popular media look like in five years if this demand for quality continues?
The result is a genre now known as "background television"—shows that are neither good enough to command your full attention nor bad enough to turn off. They are the cinematic equivalent of beige paint. Consider the rise of true crime documentaries that stretch a 20-minute story into ten hours of repetitive interviews. Consider the "YouTube essay" that repeats the same three points for 45 minutes to hit monetization thresholds. Consider the Netflix romantic comedy where every plot beat is algorithmically derived from the top 100 highest-grossing rom-coms of the last decade. trueanal201021ashleylanelovesanalxxx72 better
I predict three major shifts:
The best popular media of the last decade— The White Lotus , Pachinko , Fleabag —was made with tight budgets and tight runtimes. Constraints force creativity. A 22-episode season of filler is not better than a 6-episode masterpiece. The old model (publishers, studios, labels) is dead
Streaming platforms like Netflix, TikTok, and YouTube are not motivated to create great art—they are motivated to create engagement . Their algorithms reward content that is slightly irritating (to keep you watching), predictable (to reduce cognitive load), and bingable (to maximize screen time). The Future of Better Entertainment What will popular
You do not have to watch the next season of that mediocre show just because everyone else is. You do not have to finish the book that lost you on page 50. You do not have to listen to the podcast that peaked three years ago.