Streamers & Strats
As many of you know, my day job is at Max (what used to be HBO Max), working in content curation for our subscribers.
I’ve worked in this industry for long enough now to have picked up quite a few insights about the major streaming platforms — how they operate, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and so on.
As I talked about some of this stuff during an off-mic conversation with Jordan the other day, he told me it would make a great post on our Substack. So that’s what this is — a breakdown of the demographics of streaming services, and how they are trying (some more successfully than others) to carve out a space for themselves by making content that appeals to their respective audiences.
Netflix
For all intents and purposes, Netflix was the first major streamer, which means they have the broadest audience.
Since they’re not focused on any particular demographic, they don’t need to make quality content for a specific audience or user base. Instead, they just want to make as much content as possible. This is partly because they need to keep up with major studios that have been around for a hundred years, and partly because they are trying to please everybody all the time.
That's why most of their stuff is bad. You can't please everybody. It’s the classic, “jack of all trades, master of none” problem.
And it’s ironic, because this is a consequence of their success. They were the first on the scene. Everybody has signed up for them. So they have no idea how to target a specific audience.
That said, when they hit, they hit, and it's really good — the kind of thing you could see on HBO. But even then, they haven’t really figured out how to hit outside of the occasional prestige drama.
Disney+
If you ask most people in the country, they would say that Disney Plus is for families. And I think that's what you would probably get if you ask Disney Plus who they think their audience is.
But their actions don’t always imply that they actually know who their audience is. Instead, they seem to be focused on a lot of qualities or ideas that most American families don't care about. And they are really struggling right now.
I attribute this back to when Disney was struggling in the early 2000s. At the time, they had a lock on kids — you love Disney when you’re a kid — and then they had a lock on parents — because when you’re a parent, you love Disney again as you introduce it to your kids. But between being a kid and being a parent, Disney didn't really have anything for that audience group.
So what did they do? They bought Marvel, and they bought Star Wars. This was an effort to capture the 18 to 30 year old demographic.
And it worked! The problem is now all of their content seems to be pandering to a really loud minority within that 18 to 30 year old audience, and not doing much to connect with their original core demographic: families.
And I believe that's why they are combining with Hulu. And you can't talk about Hulu and Disney Plus without talking about the bundle.
The bundle was Disney's way of having something for every member in the household. Disney plus for kids, ESPN for dads, and Hulu for moms. I understand that's a huge generalization, but that's basically how it worked. ABC, USA, and Fox do really well on Hulu, usually with shows that are geared toward women. This is also true of the so-called Hulu originals — The Handmaid’s Tale is their biggest success.
Amazon Prime
So, it turns out Amazon Prime and Apple TV land in a similar spot, but we’ll start with Amazon Prime.
This is a weird one, because I don't know a single person who, if you told them Prime Video was going away, would cancel their subscription to Amazon Prime. It doesn't really work that way. It’s a value add, sure, but not a great one. It’s not keeping anybody around.
That said, Amazon's demographic is generally the people in the household who are paying for the Amazon Prime subscription. Who is that? Mostly dads. That might be changing, but it’s still true that the majority is dads. Which, surprise, is why you have so many shows starring a middle-aged white man. Jack Ryan, Jack Reacher, Bosch, The Boys. Their newest one, Citadel, is an early 2000s cop show that they made today because the people who liked those shows in the early 2000s are the ones who are watching Amazon Prime.
Apple TV+
Apple TV has a similar audience to Amazon Prime, but slightly younger. Think young dads, who are less interested in action and spy thrillers, and more interested in comedies and dramas like Ted Lasso, or Shrinking, or Severance, or Servant. They all star straight, white, young male leads, because that’s the biggest demographic of the people using their technology.
They also obviously have a thing for show titles that start with ‘S.’
max (formerly HBO Max)
This is a really interesting one. And I’m not just saying that because I work for them.
Prior to Max, HBO figured out what Netflix needs to learn, which is to know what you’re good at and keep doing it as well and as often as possible. Prestige dramas and comedies was the name of the game. HBO Max’s demographic was affluent, between the ages of 18 and 39. Also, people who subscribed to HBO Max usually had other streaming services as well, so HBO was always trying to offer something that no other streaming service was offering.
This is changing a little bit with the transition to Max, with all the Discovery content coming in. Now you have stuff like HGTV and Food Network, and so Max is now geared toward women in the home, and men in the home, for daytime viewing, for nighttime viewing, and there's also a whole lot of stuff for kids.
We’ll have to wait and see how good they are at making new content for such a wide demographic — if they’ll end up looking more and more like a Netflix clone, or if they’ll be able to distinguish themselves among all the streamers with higher-quality content across the board.
Peacock and Paramount (Honorable Mentions)
I personally believe these platforms are less about targeting a key demographic as they are just riding the wave of the popular intellectual property they already own.
Paramount is better at making new shows, but all of their originals are tied, for the most part, to their IP. These are shows like all the Yellowstone spinoffs, the Star Trek shows, and even The Offer, which is based on The Godfather. So their key demographic is…people that already watch their shows.
And then Peacock is just like, “Hey, let’s get everyone to watch The Office and 30 Rock and Parks & Rec over and over and over again.” They do have some original content, but it’s mostly trying to recycle the same tone and style. All of it is speaking the same language as The Good Place.
But that’s not a demographic, it’s a category of show, and it remains to be seen if you can continue to legitimize your existence based on one genre of content.
Conclusions…?
As streaming platforms continue to adapt in their efforts to capture a larger piece of the market share, they will have to juggle their existing identities and strategies with the constant demand for evolution.
In the unending race for subscription dollars, hopefully at least the audience wins.
My wife and I have Max, as well as Netflix and Hulu/Disney+ bundle. To be honest, our biggest draw to Max was the plethora of DC Animated shows and films, initially Harley Quinn.
DC/WB animated projects have almost universally been exceptional in execution, and without the constraints of live-action, have always struck me as more versatile and having greater adaptability from the source material. I only wish DC had their own Punisher equivalent!
I know that animation can be costly and complicated to produce, but trust me, if more of it can be made in the Justice League/Batman style, it will always be a winner.