When Stranger Things first premiered in 2016, Netflix was still courting new subscribers with splashy original projects that were meant to have broad audience appeal. The company had solidified itself as a major player in the streaming wars with massive hits like House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, and a collection of live-action Marvel series. The shows were all very different, but they each felt like part of an ambitious plan to establish Netflix as the gravitational center of a new pop cultural era.
Technology
Stranger Things is ending, and so is Netflix’s reliance on tentpole shows
Those big, watercooler tentpole projects made Netflix feel like a platform worth subscribing to because of how large they loomed in the public consciousness. Especially in its early seasons, Stranger Things was thrilling to watch as a new sci-fi / horror series steeped in nostalgia. But it was also fascinating to see the show become a global phenomenon that dominated online discourse and inspired other studios to tell more stories set in the ’80s.
Though Netflix has had a number of other massive hits since Stranger Things, it has often felt like the company is thinking differently about its path to continued success. It’s no longer reporting its quarterly subscriber numbers, and a combination of price hikes and new ad-supported tiers have become key parts of its economic growth. Even as Netflix starts rolling out Stranger Things’ final season this week, a three-part event spread out over the rest of the year, it feels like tentpoles — moments that are supposed to capture and sustain everyone’s attention — aren’t as critical to the streamer’s big-picture strategy anymore.
As big as Stranger Things has been in the past, the hype around the show’s fifth and final season has been relatively subdued for a handful of reasons. For one, the competition is fiercer; more streaming platforms have come into existence and they have had ample time to capture audiences’ imaginations with new genre series of their own. Though Stranger Things’ first two seasons came out in quick succession, Netflix began releasing subsequent episodes at much, much slower pace. The series will have been airing for almost a decade when the first part of season 5 drops on November 26th, and many viewers will probably find themselves a little hazy on how the Duffer Brothers’ story got to this point.
Netflix might have been concerned about Stranger Things losing momentum between seasons back when the company was more focused on dropping entire seasons of a show in one fell swoop. But through its shift toward more staggered releases, particularly for its most notable series, Netflix has signaled that it’s aiming for a different kind of success.
Netflix knows that people are still going to watch Stranger Things 5 and stick around for at least a couple of months to see how things shake out for the Hawkins gang. There’s also going to be an animated spinoff series for folks who aren’t ready to leave Stranger Things behind. But Netflix has also cultivated more IP with fandoms of their own outside of Stranger Things, and the streamer understands that those eyeballs can be kept long after the Duffer Brothers have gone.
Though every streamer wants to make bona fide hits that drive subscriber sign-ups, Netflix has gotten heavily into the business of launching franchises that can coexist without seeming to overlap all that much. That’s exactly the vibe you get from the company’s annual Tudum showcase, which frames all of its shows from Bridgerton to Wednesday to Emily in Paris as equally important parts of its future plans.
Rather than launching massive tentpole originals designed to get everyone watching the same thing, Netflix has invested more of its energy into projects that feel more targeted to specific audiences, like fans of anime and live sports. That might be part of why the company spent so much time dabbling in mobile gaming before its recent shift to prioritize TV-focused party gaming. Those dabblings don’t mean that Netflix isn’t thinking about which of its many upcoming series might be “the next Stranger Things.” But they do suggest that the company sees tentpole shows as just one of many irons it needs to keep in the fire.
Netflix’s head content officer Bela Bajaria said as much earlier this year during a presentation where she noted that the platform now has somewhere north of 700 million subscribers. With that many viewers, the company can’t bank on individual shows or movies landing with everyone, and it makes much more sense to cater to specific niches. As long as you’re paying, Netflix doesn’t really care whether you’ve signed up for the English-language Squid Game remake, a Little House on the Prairie reboot, or WWE. All of the programming serves the same bottom line, and the main goal is to keep viewers watching.
Netflix is absolutely going to be paying attention to the ways its subscriber numbers fluctuate in the coming weeks as Stranger Things 5 arrives in waves. A sharp decline once the season is through in the new year might sound some internal alarms. But whether or not Stranger Things 5 is as big as Netflix is building it up to be, its conclusion marks the end of an era for the streamer — and what’s next looks very different. But what’s much more likely is that the show comes and goes with a moderate amount of fanfare, and then Netflix sits back to think about what to do when one of its upcoming projects sticks.
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Asus’s latest gaming monitor is a little smaller than usual. The ROG Strix XG129C, announced on Friday, is a 12.3-inch touchscreen IPS display that’s intended to be a sidekick for a larger main monitor, similar to the 14.1-inch secondary display in the 2020 Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15. It’s a slightly smaller competitor to Corsair’s Xeneon Edge, which has a 14.5-inch display, but the same 720p resolution.
Asus says the XG129C covers 125 percent of the sRGB color gamut and 90 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut. It also comes with a one-year subscription for the hardware monitoring tool AIDA64 Extreme, which would usually cost $65. Besides acting as a performance monitor for your PC, sidekick displays like this can also be handy as an extension for streaming or editing setups, much like Elgato’s Stream Deck.
Along with the little XG129C, Asus also announced the ROG Strix OLED XG34WCDMS, a 34-inch RGB Tandem QD-OLED gaming monitor. It features a 280Hz refresh rate and a 3440 x 1440p resolution, and, according to Asus, covers 99 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Asus has not yet officially announced pricing for either display.
Disneyland officials said they are always evaluating regulations and procedures to find ways to enhance the guest experience. (Jeff Gritchen/Digital First Media/Orange County Register/Getty Images)
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IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
— Disney CEO unveils entertainment giant’s new 3-pillar growth plan
— Warning about AI-driven bank account hacks
— Inside China’s AI ‘wolf pack’ drones built with Taiwan conflict in mind
CUSTOMER FOCUS: Disney CEO unveils entertainment giant’s new 3-pillar growth plan – New Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro outlined a new growth strategy for the entertainment giant as the company announced its quarterly results, which includes a focus on investing in content as well as technology.
TECH CHECK: Trump admin to review AI models from Google, Microsoft, xAI ahead of public release – The Trump administration is preparing to review new artificial intelligence models from major tech companies like Google, Microsoft and xAI ahead of their public releases to ensure safety and regulatory compliance.
EVOLVING THREAT: Treasury Secretary Bessent warns Americans about AI-driven bank account hacks as threats rapidly evolve – Treasury Secretary Bessent is warning Americans about the growing danger of artificial intelligence-driven bank account hacks.
‘GOLDILOCKS’: IBM CEO Arvind Krishna warns Washington must find middle ground on AI regulation – IBM CEO Arvind Krishna is issuing a strong warning to Washington lawmakers, arguing that they must find a “Goldilocks” middle ground regarding artificial intelligence regulation to carefully balance industry innovation with consumer safety.
MACHINE WARFARE: Inside China’s AI ‘wolf pack’ drones built with Taiwan conflict in mind – China is developing AI-enabled robotic “wolf packs” designed to scout, supply and potentially support combat operations alongside troops in a future war — including a possible invasion of Taiwan — according to a new report.
FDD report warns China is preparing to reimagine warfare with its ‘robot wolf.’ (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
HIDDEN RISKS: AI exposes US military supply chain tied to China – Fox Business media coverage highlights a concerning new analysis showing how artificial intelligence has exposed major hidden risks and critical vulnerabilities within the United States military supply chain that are directly tied to China.
RED LINE: China blocks Meta AI deal over security concerns – China blocked a major artificial intelligence deal involving tech giant Meta, with the government citing ongoing national security concerns over the advanced technology integration.
‘ART’IFICIAL IDEAS: How AI exposure is reshaping jobs in creative fields – Fox Business explores the significant workplace shifts currently underway in the technology sector, detailing exactly how growing artificial intelligence exposure is fundamentally reshaping roles and expectations across various creative fields.
JUST LIKE US: Former LSU coach Brian Kelly uses AI to prepare for job interviews – Former LSU football coach Brian Kelly is reportedly using artificial intelligence to help prepare for upcoming job interviews, proving he faces the same modern challenges as the rest of the workforce.
DIGITAL DEXTERITY: New AI ‘brain’ lets robots move like humans – Engineers and researchers have successfully developed a groundbreaking new artificial intelligence “brain” that allows advanced robots to move, learn and navigate their environments much more seamlessly like actual humans.
Genesis AI says its robotic hand can learn from human motion data to complete detailed, multistep tasks such as cooking an omelet. (Genesis AI)
FINANCIAL PROPOSITION: Bay Area banker wants to swap his $8M estate for AI company stock – A Bay Area banker wants to swap his luxurious $8 million real estate property entirely for valuable stock in a booming artificial intelligence company.
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After quickly selling out of the Steam Controller on May 4th, Valve has launched a reservation system to ensure that you can get one without too much hassle. You may not get one as quickly as you’d like to, but at least you can now easily reserve the $99 controller.
If your Steam account is in good standing, and you’ve purchased something on the account before April 27th of this year, you’ll be able to reserve one. Essentially, this will hold your place in line for future restocks. Once a controller is available for you, you’ll get an email prompting you to purchase. You’ll have 72 hours to purchase your Steam Controller before it gets offered to the next person in the queue.
Ahead of its launch, Valve told The Verge that it had significant supply ready for its debut, but it didn’t know exactly how much demand there would be for the controller. Clearly, there wasn’t enough stock to meet demand. But at least now you’re able to join the line to get one instead of hoping you’ll be among the first to buy from a restock.
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