This just in: The STW Daily News Round-Up featuring all the news that’s fit to (digitally) print for Tuesday, August 2, 2022. Streaming will surpass cable in viewership by the end of the year and Rocky isn’t having Robert Lawton’s new film, Drago.
Nielsen report indicates streaming content will pass cable by the end of the year
On Monday Forbes reported that streaming content would surpass cable by the close of the year. According to the report, in June of 2021 cable television made up 40.1% of all video viewing but has since dropped by 5%, in 12 months.
At the same time, streaming content made up 33.7% of video viewing this summer, up over 6% from 27.4% last June. According to the report, streaming services are stealing roughly half a percent of all viewers who have traditionally subscribed to cable each month.
If the trend continues, expect streaming content to surpass cable by Thanksgiving, at the latest.
Meanwhile, Netflix, which suffered a major run on its stock last quarter after reporting a slight subscriber loss due to the war in Ukraine, is reporting growth of around 0.6% since June (the stock closed Monday up, at over $226 a share – which we predicted the release of Stranger Things would do last May. Forbes referenced the impact of Stranger Things’ release, stating “Netflix, in June, saw a monthly increase of 16.3% in minutes viewed from May. The fourth season of Stranger Things was a factor in the share increase.”
Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and YouTube all reported record audiences as well. Disney+ reported a 14.7% increase in minutes viewed, and Amazon Prime netted an additional 11.1% increase in minutes viewed with the release of The Boys.
And Amazon isn’t done yet. With Thursday Night Football and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuting next month, it’s hard to see any outcome where cable doesn’t continue to bleed viewers.
It will be interesting to see where it all goes from here, but one thing is clear; pulling the plug completely seems inevitable at this point, the question is: when?
Rocky is not happy about Drago
On Monday Sylvester Stallone doubled down on his frustration with the news that a new movie based on his nemesis Drago was in development at MGM without his input.
On Sunday Stallone tweeted:
“Another Heartbreaker… Just found this out… ONCE AGAIN, this PATHETIC 94-year-old PRODUCER and HIS MORONIC USELESS VULTURE CHILDREN, Charles And David, are once again picking clean THE BONES of another wonderful character I created without even telling me,” Stallone wrote. “I APOLOGIZE to the FANS, I never wanted ROCKY characters to be exploited by these parasites.”
Oof.
And while Dolph has tried to play the peacemaker, Stallone doesn’t appear to be interested in backing down.
In either case, Streaming This Weekend is excited to revisit the world of Drago. With the success of the Creed franchise proving that sports drama films still work in a world where superheroes rule the box office, we can’t wait to see what writer Robert Lawton puts on paper for Ivan Drago and his son Viktor, who was last seen in 2018’s Creed 2.
Perhaps it wasn’t their final fight after all.