The Guiding Hands of Streaming
November 13, 2023
A year ago, when we came out with our first admittedly audacious list of the 40 most important people in streaming, we thought it was going to be a one-shot deal.
It was an ambitious and time-consuming endeavor. So much was being written and talked about the streaming phenomenon, but the focus was always on numbers and strategies, never on the people.
We wanted to change the conversation and underscore the fact that without some truly great minds and creative, passionate personalities, this “Great Disruption” in home entertainment never would have been possible.
In the end, winnowing down the many smart and talented executives who had either been nominated by our readers or suggested by our editors came down to a massive value judgment.
As I noted in this space at the time, we could have easily combed the executive suites at the top streamers — Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu/Disney+, Max, Paramount+ and Peacock — and been done with it.
But in defining “important,” we felt we needed to look beyond the numbers, beyond the subscriber counts and quarterly financials.
We wanted to include the pioneers who birthed the business, the innovators who broke new ground in such areas as AVOD and FAST, the technologists who helped turn concepts and ideas into reality, and the visionaries who embraced niche content and catered to underserved audiences.
The night before our first list appeared in the print and digital edition of Media Play News, I gave it a final once-over and felt quite pleased with what we had done. But I knew my opinion was not the one that mattered — what counted was the opinion of the home entertainment community and its largest sub-sect, streaming.
Fortunately, the reaction to our inaugural “40 Most Important People in Streaming” list was overwhelmingly positive. And as I watched the list spread through social media and float to the top of any Google news search for key streaming executives, I met with our team and we collectively decided to make this list an annual endeavor.
So, in this, our second go-round, we have once again carefully scrutinized and analyzed the streaming industry and identified its key players. We have reached out to you, our readers, and asked you to submit the names of streaming executives you feel belong on this list, and why. And we’ve had a lot of conversations with a lot of different people in all corners of the business to get their opinions, as well.
As you might imagine, selecting the final 40 was an arduous task. Many of the names are the same, but there’s also quite a bit of new blood. Some of the executives on our initial list have moved on or assumed new duties; at the same time, quite a few newcomers are in the spotlight given streaming’s continued fragmentation into the ad-supported realm and free, ad-supported linear television.
The big challenge of the moment, of course, is streaming’s long-term sustainability, which most everyone agrees requires multiple revenue streams. Factor in the specter of AI, and all that it already can, and might some day be able to, do, and rest assured we’re all in for a long, wild ride.
As streaming continues to evolve, this list will undoubtedly evolve with it. So will we — and, we trust, so will you.