Bhabhumm…

You know the sound.

It is probably more identifiable than the actual substance of the content in it. Pray tell.

The Pavlovian trigger to watching videos, I guess. Like. Sure. If it needs to be there. It can.

It might denote the encroachment of streaming onto the traditional ideas of film, television and theatre. When one two note sound takes over an iconically orchestrated theme by Max Steiner, some people are at least going to be mildly bothered by it.

People largely like ‘the known’ and things that are familiar in whatever way possible. Game of Thrones, LOTR, Harry Potter were fine in their separate platform. Why do they now have to make it all one?

Mild disclaimer, I’m not business analyst; I’m just a consumer of a product and a liker of movies. When these kinds of deals take place, it makes me sad to know that art might ultimately be the victim at the end of the day. As streaming platforms divert into sports and gaming, it makes me want to question the intention and the sources from which the movies and shows I watch are going to come from.

Story telling takes a back seat when it comes to consumerism. That is how we have all been trained to work. To write, create and sell what will work. Not what makes the artists happy… Fair enough.

Although has that really worked out well for anyone? Other than the top 1%? Especially with AI on the horizon vying for everybody’s jobs. The artist is burning the candle stick at both ends. Where they don’t like what they create andddd don’t get paid for doing it. This is what is classically called a lose-lose scenario.

On the flip side of it. Anyone can do anything that can essentially qualify as art and put it out there. I’m doing it right now. For the pleasure of it, not for the commerce.

Shabamm…

In comes YouTube. One of Netflix’s biggest competitors. More democratized but equally trashy. I don’t really want to care deeply about what Mr. Beast has to do or say about anything. Although the idea of being able to put my thoughts out there is very appealing. *clears throat* Do not go look at my Instagram.

Now for the normal people of the world, Netflix is for playing before we sleep. YouTube is for when we do chores, travel to work or just play music in the background when we do everything else but watch the video that is on it. Pardon my frivolity in this analysis.

YouTube has view counts, that is its prominent feature. Netflix doesn’t put out its subscriber numbers but relies on some antithetical stats to publish content ranking, presumably region wise.

So at the end of the day, viewership is not about the catharsis a character is having accentuated by beautiful visuals and a great background score. Like the brothers Sam, Jack, Albert and Harry Warner intended to be.

It’s about keeping the audience locked in, and the science for that is different. Yes… science. Not art.