Numbers inform the story, even when they’re not exact. “About 130”—that’s what number of fewer exhibits Netflix reportedly launched final yr versus 2022. “Several hundred”—the estimate of how many individuals Amazon is said to be laying off within the firm’s Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions. The variety of scripted exhibits that streaming companies plan to launch this yr is estimated to be round 400, down from a peak of 599 in 2022.

The much-lauded streaming wars are scuffles now—and the winners are few.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg Businessweek famous that the approaching yr is seeking to be a “very boring” one for viewers. Streaming, reporter Lucas Shaw defined, was purported to be the reply to dwindling cable subscriptions and a film enterprise nonetheless struggling to return to prepandemic ranges, however the trade continues to be shedding money. “Even though unions secured huge victories [in the Hollywood strikes], writers and actors have returned to an industry that should have fewer jobs.” The day after Shaw’s report went out, Amazon’s huge Prime Video cuts hit the information.

Signs of the strife emerged in 2022, when Netflix began losing subscribers. This time final yr, Reed Hastings, who turned the corporate right into a juggernaut, stepped back from his position as CEO. Password-sharing crackdowns and new ad-supported tiers helped Netflix right the ship, nevertheless it nonetheless faces stiff competitors from newer companies like Max, Apple TV+, Disney+, and Prime Video—at the same time as these companies now battle with their very own rising pains.

This was all the time going to occur. Once Netflix disrupted how individuals watch motion pictures and TV exhibits, every part was in movement. Major Hollywood studios, a lot of which had made financial institution by licensing their content material to streamers, determined they wanted to supply companies of their very own. Cord-cutting grew to become the secret, and other people began axing cable left and proper. As new companies emerged—and merged (hello, Warner Bros. Discovery!)—the race for dominance to turn out to be one among the new Big Three was on.

Not to say that race will finish in 2024, nevertheless it might sluggish to a gentle mall stroll. Following Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020, throughout which streaming Tiger King felt like a lifeline to the skin world, individuals have been taking an extended, exhausting take a look at their streaming budgets. When subscriptions to a half-dozen companies can price about as a lot as primary cable, some are going to get minimize from family bills.

The Monitor is a weekly column dedicated to every part taking place within the WIRED world of tradition, from motion pictures to memes, TV to Twitter.

Following the twin Hollywood strikes, that’ll be powerful. Netflix claims the strikes didn’t have a huge effect on its slate, nevertheless it did launch about 25 % fewer sequence within the second half of final yr, according to What’s on Netflix, and the entire thing with the strikes is that there can be ripple results. Apple TV+, for instance, seems to be to be hit the toughest, in keeping with trade observers at Parrott Analytics, as a result of out of all of the companies, it depends most on unique content material slightly than licensing outdated (and already in style) exhibits.