> Several screenwriters who’ve worked for the streamer told me a common note from company executives is “have this character announce what they’re doing so that viewers who have this program on in the background can follow along.” [...] One tag among Netflix’s thirty-six thousand microgenres offers a suitable name for this kind of dreck: “casual viewing.” Usually reserved for breezy network sitcoms, reality television, and nature documentaries, the category describes much of Netflix’s film catalog — movies that go down best when you’re not paying attention, or as the Hollywood Reporter recently described Atlas, a 2024 sci-fi film starring Jennifer Lopez, “another Netflix movie made to half-watch while doing laundry.”
In other words, people like me, who want to focus on and experience a great film or series, are no longer the target audience.
Apparently, there's no money in targeting people who want to pay attention.
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[a] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/57_Channels_(And_Nothin'_On)
So, watching a sitcom or similar where the characters' body language or facial expressions are important is an exercise in frustration.
Making video (more complicated than "talking heads") so nobody watches it is such a waste... (so is non peer to peer mass streaming, come to think of it).
erm, I'm a huge proponent of both peer to peer networking and piracy but it's hard to argue that transiting backbone links is more efficient than CDN boxen sitting at ISPs right next to last mile links.