Netflix vs. Paramount bid for Warner Bros... will it just create more slop?

22 Dec 2025

A new era of entertainment? Or just an opportunity for more slop…

Don’t worry, not another Paramount vs Netflix Warner Bros hot take…

BUT what is interesting is the balance between subscribers and the perceived quality of output.

Netflix reportedly has nearly twice as many subscribers as its nearest rivals. It also has twice as many titles but fewer high rankings on IMDB.

“Netflix has about twice as many titles as Warner on its streaming service in the US, but when it comes to titles rated at least 9 out of 10 on IMDB, Warner has 141 against Netflix’s 120.”

Netflix has unmatched coverage/distribution, but they need more and more great ideas and IP to fuel its success. “Their assets work better in our business model, and our business model works better with these assets.”

I think this sums up the debate around the ability to create more with less. A lot of the time, we don’t need more; we just want better.

Call it peak content or whatever, really, entertainment is getting into a larger and larger loop of the paradox of choice.

Hollywood has created some of the most iconic pieces of entertainment in modern history, but its process/distribution/environment/economics have fundamentally changed.

So when we talk about the fight for attention, it’s really the fight for the right kind of attention... we're all going to guard it closely as we get more and more fed up with being thrown slop.

Source/data from The Economist

Image credit: FT montage/Shutterstock