Disney is turning its streaming service into a swipeable discovery feed, borrowing TikTok's vertical video format for content browsing. This follows Netflix's $600M acquisition of Affleck's AI production company days ago and Amazon locking 4K behind a premium tier today. The streaming wars stopped being about content libraries. They're now about controlling the algorithm that decides what you watch, how you watch it, and increasingly, what you pay to watch it.
Four different platforms today (Disney, Amazon, Spotify, ChatGPT) all launched features giving users more granular control over automated systems.
The pendulum is swinging back. After years of algorithms optimizing for engagement, companies are realizing user agency is the feature people will actually pay for.
For people who’d rather be early and wrong than late and safe.