A quick take on entertainment efficiency, and symptoms of an uncontrolled framework. Meanwhile, wealth gap is widening almost everywhere around the world… fueling the cycle.

Centralization of channels and framework

The time of internet’s virgin land is long gone. Boundaries and policies now delimit the cyber space. Popular channels and platform must now abide to localized regulations for good or bad, corseting what can be diffused. Rules vary between places, but the logic of a tightening grip on the ability to access a stand, and voice an opinion is however the same.

Other channels or independent domains are simply out of reach, without a fair chance to be found.

Captive audience

Taking advantage of their unique position, channels developed strategies to tighten their grip over their audience. They propose more and more content, yet with less and less diversity, creating polarized world. Everyone can become an expert on specific theme, and yet be completely ignorant on some fundamental knowledge. So audience’s creative and cultural environment shrinks, even though a wide range of knowledge is available. Channels do just that, they channel to create captive audience…

In the end, the public taste becomes very specific, following clear genres, with defined tropes and creative elements. This cluster that is seldom exposed to anything else, no longer comprehend cross genre and multi-referencing.

Struggling creators & Cost reduction

On the other side of the message, creators’ role slowly lose value. Channels business model isn’t selling content, but selling data and ‘brain space’ (quoting the president of french first tv channel M. LeLay). So content has little value, and their creators get very little for their contributions. Yet, with captive audience, creators only have two choices: abide to popular genre that channels defined and try to get exposure; or create original content, and remain in the shadow.

This made content sourcing less and less costly for channels too, as creators are now queuing to provide content shaped just for them for free.

Effy entertainment

In the end, audience effectively gets what they want. Similarly, new creators born and raised in this paradigm, are happy to get any exposure they can. Channels cash in, and investing some back to tighten their grip along the way…

Meanwhile, wealth gap widens. Audience relies on escapism that channels provide to forget misery, while creators shape their creations to fit new norms with the hope to get views .

Then what?

As of today, very few alternative exist, and the one available such as unregulated space (like dark web), or space with fair treatment are technically out of reach or illegal. So this is what it is…