Content is King: Entertainment in the Modern Era

by: Savannah Rettig

There’s no doubt that the landscape of entertainment in the modern era has changed significantly from fifty, twenty, even as little as ten years ago. In the past two years—since the dawn of the age of COVID-19—the way society consumes entertainment has had to shift drastically to accommodate the new “norm” of media consumed primarily at home. New movies are being released directly to streaming services more often as movie theatres lose revenue. Individual content creators on services such as Twitch or YouTube have exploded in numbers, and the younger generations that have grown up with this type of content have become increasingly invested in it. At the same time, those same generations have become more critical of the mainstream entertainment industry, as well as it content that it produces.

The phrase “content is king” was initially coined in a 1996 essay written by software developer and billionaire Bill Gates. He was discussing the best business strategies for companies looking to cash in, and claiming that those with the biggest and most entertaining media presence would do the best. This mentality has only become more relevant over the last two years, with streaming services specifically cashing in on how big of a role the internet has begun to play in a world where venturing out in public may be difficult and frowned upon. In applying for jobs or attempting to make a living, young people are hearing that phrase thrown out by successful business people paying attention to this shifting landscape. Many of them have listened and taken the next logical step in their minds to become content creators themselves.

On YouTube, “react” channels have become popular, with many new reactors popping up over the last year or so. On these channels, a content creator will record themselves reacting to a movie, television show, or music video suggested to them by their followers. The viewers of this content get to re-experience a first-time reaction of old-favorite content through these creators, or discover new content they may enjoy from reviewers whose opinions they have come to trust.

The problem for reactors on YouTube often comes down to how they can earn money from their chosen career path. While content creators on the platform can earn revenue from their videos if YouTube deems them appropriate, reactors often face the issue of demonetization due to copyright claims, even despite heavy cuts and edits they’ve made to the content they are reacting to. They often get around this obstacle by releasing unedited versions of their reactions on private Patreon accounts, where their followers can access the full content for a subscription fee.

Twitch is another platform that has had a boom in users since the beginning of the pandemic. On Twitch, streamers livestream themselves doing a variety of activities: playing video games, cooking, or even just chatting with their audience. The live interaction between creators and consumers the platform offers is a unique experience that other services (including YouTube) have attempted to replicate, but none have amounted to the same level of success.

Interestingly, the distribution of the ages of Twitch users shows that the vast majority—40.6% to be precise—fall in the 20-29 age bracket, with ages 10-19 coming in at a close second at 37.8% (recorded in 2020). The first age group lines up with that of YouTube for the general age range of new creator accounts, while the larger age bracket that encompasses both groups (ages 10-29) reflects the ages of the younger generations accustomed to more personalized entertainment, having grown up in the early to late 2000s. The increase in demand for original content from small creators also corresponds with the increase in criticism from younger generations of Hollywood and larger media corporations regarding the recycling of ideas in what many see as an over-abundance of remakes of classic movies. There have been no significant patterns observed demonstrating an increase in the number of remakes in recent years, but that data hasn’t done much to silence the critics.

Content creation, in any form, is the basis for our society’s entertainment. Regardless of where that content comes from—be it large-scale productions from big-name studios or small-scale content from individual creators—that isn’t going to change anytime soon. As we shift further into this digital age, especially moving into a post-pandemic society, it will be interesting to see what new types of content will crop up, as well as which existing types pull forward as the most prominent influencers of younger generations. One thing that is clear, however, is that Bill Gate’s words from decades ago will continue to ring true for many years to come: content is king.