10 Ways To Save Streaming Services

The number of high profile failures from Netflix and Amazon Prime recently, and a lack of action taken over them shows that streaming services need to keep a closer eye on both their executives and their money.

The three Amazon Prime executives that either resigned or were let go in late 2017 were revealed to have made a series of decisions that only be described as really stupid, and raised the question of how they were still employed until then.

Head of comedy & drama Joe Lewis cast his partner in superhero series The Tick and repeatedly changed and increased the character’s role to suit her, while studio head Roy Price rejected drama series Big Little Lies on the grounds that he couldn’t be sure if female leads Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman would do nude scenes. They did, and the show went on to win eight Emmys and four Golden Globes for HBO.

But because Amazon Prime was so successful, these decisions passed without any consequences for a long time. Likewise, a colossal loss maker like Netflix’s Marco Polo, which lost -no that’s not a typo- $200 million, would be a serious blow to any smaller company but was just shrugged off.

Because streaming services are currently experiencing the good times and have money to burn, they’re happy to just let both executives and creatives do their thing without keeping an eye on them. Things shouldn’t be micromanaged, but the Roy Prices of the world shouldn’t be able to fling a company’s money and reputation about with being kept in check.