Ehen, make I yarn you wetin dey happen for Hollywood. The thing shock me sef. You know say Los Angeles na like company town for TV and film work? But since late 2022, dem don sack about 42,000 workers for that industry. Na 30 percent drop for employment o! Labour Department numbers wey The Wall Street Journal report show say things don bad like dat.
Noah Wyle, wey be star and executive producer for that new medical drama The Pitt, don talk am clear. For March congressional hearing wey dem focus on this wahala, Wyle yarn say the past six years don cause “near cratering of our once thriving industry.” The man talk strong like say na Dr. Robby from The Pitt dey advocate for better thing.
Why all this job loss dey happen? Reasons plenty. Global competition dey, industry consolidation dey, people viewing habit don change. But the main gist na money. Media companies dey make less content now, and dem dey make even less for Los Angeles. California expensive well well, and union crews dey demand living wages. The whole point of that congressional hearing na to beg for federal film tax incentive, make shooting for Hollywood become economically advantageous again.
But wait, make I explain how we reach here. Television dey boom well well for first two decades of this century. Most people dey watch TV via cable. For 2010, cable dey for over 90 percent of American homes. Cable prove to be successful financial model because cable company dey collect money multiple times – dem dey rent hardware, charge customer for service, and charge companies to advertise. Networks wey provide content sef dey collect their own share – dem collect fees from cable company and sell advertising. Everybody dey chop, customer dey watch.
The biggest impact of cable na explosion of channels. When person buy cable subscription for 2000s, dem get access to more than 100 channels, even if research show say person only dey watch about 17 of them. Government regulations wey dem establish for 1990s make am say the more channels network create, the more money dem fit earn. Military Channel? Romance Classics? Boyz Channel? Dem just bundle all these channels together and charge customer more. Again, everybody dey make money – including television industry workers wey be middle-class professionals.
Hundreds of channels mean thousands of hours of content to work on. Camera assistant or costumer fit do shifts on Mad Men for AMC, The Closer for TNT, Laguna Beach for MTV, or countless others. Someone had to make shows for American Heroes Channel. While not all this production dey based for Los Angeles, or use union crews, work dey plenty for everybody.
The change start with Netflix. That DVD rental company debut stand-alone streaming service for 2011, follow with original content for 2013. One of the lures na say viewer fit now pay for only wetin dem want watch – without commercials. That one touch nerve. The ever-rising costs of ad-drenched cable subscriptions for bundle of never-watched channels begin feel more like con than boon. People sign up for just $7.99 a month.
Success of Netflix spawn streaming rush of 2010s. First, na new tech players like Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, but soon, all the major media companies wey no want left behind launch their own services – Peacock from NBC, Disney+, Discovery+, Paramount+, CNN+, etc. Internally, resources shift away from profitable cable and linear programming to bulk up those new “plus” platforms.
For people wey dey work for industry, that one dey mostly OK for first few years. Because for first few years of these new streamers existence, their primary target for success na gaining subscribers. Networks commission fewer shows for cable and its myriad channels, but still buy plenty new shows for variety of genres. The idea na say the best way to get people watch your stuff na to offer as much stuff as you can.
This na Peak TV, and e work. Consumers, especially millennials and Gen Z, decide to “cut the cord” and cancel cable. Streamer subscriptions blast off. Then for 2022, e stop working. Both writers and actors go out on strike, one issue being lack of substantial residual compensation when their work play on streamers. But something even more momentous happen that year – for first time, Netflix report loss in subscribers.
Faced with real dilemma, company decide to move goalpost. As FX network head John Landgraf sum am up for 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “The inflection point was when Netflix decided to change their public-facing Wall Street metric from global subscribers … to profit. The only thing that you can do to get closer to profitability faster is reduce your output. It’s cut costs. Everyone has had to do that, by the way.”
Everybody do. Streamers buy fewer shows, cut staff, and raise subscription prices for name of new objective: profitability. Which bring us to March congressional hearing. Yes, e cheaper not to shoot for L.A. At end of 2025, industry publication Deadline offer up “Streaming Report Card,” and grades dey good: “After more than five years of gushing red ink, 2025 was the year when streaming across the board started to turn a profit.”
Of course, to reach this point, these platforms break successful system wey provide steady, middle-class employment to thousands and thousands of people. E usher in streamer enshittification era. Subscription rates don skyrocket since 2023, cheaper plans include commercials, password sharing dey policed, and less new content dey to watch. Far from benefiting all, new TV model of greed only favor Wall Street.
But no going back. Eighty-three percent of American adults now use streaming services – and number go higher the younger the viewer. Giant mergers and AI dey on horizon, sure to cause more destabilization. None of this mean industry, and people inside am, no go evolve and adapt, or say something no go happen to shift balance of power away from pure profit to something more sustainable for all players.
Compellingly, even though majority of Gen Z favor streamers over traditional TV, that group spend more time on video sharing services like YouTube, TikTok and social media watching user-generated content, live streams, and short-form videos – very little of which require staff anywhere near standard Hollywood production. Not only that, this group like to fast-forward through programs and cherry-pick favorite clips, all while multitasking across multiple screens.
Translation: Gen X and millennials may be last people wey really want sit down watch shows like The Pitt. Which make streamers going all-in on profits right now look like cutthroat but ultimately shrewd move. Unless dem figure out how to lure young eyes to long-form and incentivize professionally produced content, e may be last chance to make money dem get.
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