Times Are Tough, But the Entertainment Is Great

The American dream rests on continuous progress and better opportunities for future generations. A recent poll the World Economic Forum conducted with Ipsos shows that increasingly most Americans are not seeing the future in such rosy terms. 

Pessimism colors Americans’ attitudes towards topics like personal finance and living the “good life.” A minority of adults believe that home ownership is more attainable now than for their parents, and only 28% of people thought this will be better for the next generation of Americans. Compared to how Americans responded when last asked these questions in 2016, little has changed. 

Yet, there is one bright spot where there is near consensus that things are improving: access to information, media, and entertainment. It is also one of the few domains where Americans are optimistic about their future. 81% of people feel like access to information, entertainment, film, music, and books will be better for kids today than it is for their parents.  

Streaming, social media, and the ability to access both through mobile devices expands the possibility of instantaneous entertainment and information.  

The media landscape has grown to captivate us during our leisure time, with no signs of stopping. Despite industry experts warning that “Peak TV” is looming, the moment when the number of scripted, original shows will hit a ceiling, that time has yet to come.  

Streaming services seem to be pushing this peak further into the future. Last year, 532 original TV series were created, up from 216 scripted shows in 2010. This is the first time that over 500 shows have been created in a year, which does not does not include reality shows, daytime drama, or children’s series. 

Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, and the like are investing in original content in a mad dash to outcompete their opponents for valuable subscription dollars. While subscription fatigue may make consumers wary of another bill and anti-trust regulators could sweep in and begin scrutinizing these companies, this trend towards spending on new content and creating new options for viewers does not seem to be stopping. 

In fact, other pull factors could boost the demand for TV and further push “Peak TV” off. The expansion of 5G holds the possibility of pushing streaming to new heights as more people will be able to stream on their mobile devices at any time, continuing the mobile usage trends already at play without 5G. 

With barriers to access breaking down and hundreds of options to fill our time with, people are often tuning into different cultural events at their own pace. At a time when most American feel like many parts of life are showing signs of regression and disconnection, can entertainment still be a cultural building block, a common language people can turn to?

For one thing, people in media seemed to be tuned into the fact that people want an escape when they login or turn on the channel. No place was that made clearer than at the Super Bowl this year. Alixandra Barasch, assistant professor of marketing at NYU Stern Business School, told Adweek that: “…After last year and a year of discussions that were divisive and polarizing, a lot of people were sitting around the creative table and saying we don’t want to touch that. People are exhausted from all of it.”

In that same vein, Dani Paz, Vice President of the Media Development team at Ipsos, sees the democratization of content through social media as one possible way of fostering a sense of unity not just escapism. “Social media users are creating their own moments of connection. The nature of social media means they have instantaneous access to virtual communities representing the full spectrum of voices and identity - not to mention limitless opportunities for self-expression.”

Social media holds the promise of acting as a cultural unifier, albeit with all the strange, twists, and turns that come with that. For instances, the Instagram egg held the most likes of any other post on that platform, within 10 days it became the most liked post in social media history. Within a month it had hit 50 million likes, far more than watched former President Obama’s first presidential inauguration.

Still, social media is known to create bubbles and echo chambers. The media landscape of today leaves a lot to be desired in fostering unity and cohesion. There is no clear indication that the sense of unity borne out of shared media experiences in the past will be able to be recreated in quite the same way now, even if people are looking for a way to escape it.