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Foreign. This episode of the Town is presented by HBO Max for your awards consideration. Max presents Hacks, the Emmy Award winning series starring Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder. In the aftermath of mistaken news reports that Deborah passed away, she and Ava returned to Las Vegas determined to secure Deborah's legacy as a comedian. Don't miss the series Variety is calling one of TV's best comedies ever. Hacks is streaming on HBO Max. Watch now. This episode is brought to you by FX's love story, John F. Kennedy Jr. And Carolyn Bessette. The critically acclaimed series explores the undeniable chemistry, whirlwind courtship and high profile marriage of one of the most iconic couples of the 20th century, with Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly leading a cast including Naomi Watts, Constance Zimmer, Alessandro Nivola and and Grace Gummer. Called a stunning portrait of love by Variety, Love Story is Emmy eligible in all limited series categories. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundled subscribers. It is Wednesday, June 17. The late Paramount donor Sumner Redstone popularized the phrase content is king in the media industry, and for decades that was pretty accurate. Thinking back to the big cable TV carriage battles of the 90s and 2000s, the standoffs usually ended when a big show like Friends or CSI or a football game was about to air. The content owners ultimately dominated over the distributors. Incidentally, that's how your cable bill ended up costing more than 100 bucks a month. But that was before the platforms for watching content went global and achieved scale never possible in the heavily regulated TV industry. And by 2019, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former Disney and DreamWorks mogul, he declared that while content is the king maker, it's not the king. The king is the platform, he said. In the modern media landscape, YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, all our favorites on this show. Jeffrey's point was that you need great content and a lot of it to be a player in entertainment. But ultimately the platforms are now the gatekeepers and they own that audience. Do you agree with that? We see it playing out all over the Hollywood landscape. La Brea, a low rated time travel show that NBC aired a few years ago. The that's now the most popular acquired show in America, according to Nielsen. Why? It recently dropped on Netflix. Similarly, why is Fox acquiring Roku in a $22 billion deal? After all, Fox has some of the most valuable content in the world in Fox News and the NFL license. And Roku is a platform and technology company. It barely produces any content at all, but it has the platform, the 100 million users iHeart and the Ringer which produces this very show. They took a bunch of their very popular podcasts off of YouTube and put them on Netflix. Did YouTube even blink for a second? Will we see any decreased engagement for YouTube on the monthly streaming chart? No. It's basically too big to fail at this point. And that's a scary fact for Hollywood content owners and producers. Or is it, Is there anything that could be done about this at this point? That's what we're discussing today with John Mass. He's the president of Content Partners, which is a big film and TV library company. They just did a big billion dollar re up with Carlisle. They own or co own major movie libraries, the CSI franchise, a bunch of others. Today it's forget whether content is still king. Is content still in the royal family? From the Ringer and Puck, I'm Matt Bellamy and this is the Town. Okay. We are here with John Mass, president of Content Partners and returning champion on the Town third time on the show. Welcome back.
B
Thank you. Good to be back. Do I get like a mug, a town mug or a hoodie or something like that for being on the third time?
A
We can maybe arrange for you to have one of the A24 hats that they keep sending, Craig.
B
All right.
A
No, we do have some merch. We have some stickers and we have some, some mugs. I can get you a Puck hat. I'm sure it will be like the
C
five Timers Club at snl. You'll get a jacket after your fifth time.
A
That is a good idea, Craig. We need to come up with something for like, well, Lucas, obviously, but like the rich Greenfields and like, you're on your way, John. Someday we'll get you there.
B
I like it. I like it.
A
Why I like having you on the show is because you are a fantastic avatar for all of the content industry. You buy and sell assets, movies, TV shows, the essence of the business. And you see where the money is made throughout the waterfall going on decades after some of this stuff is made. And we've had you on to talk about how money is made on films, how money is made on television. But what we haven't really discussed, and I want to today, is how money is made in distribution because it is such an important part of the Hollywood ecosystem and one that is arguably more important than ever. This notion of whether content is king or distribution is king, that's been a tug of war for decades. And it feels like the distribution people have basically pulled the content people into the mud and are doing a little Dance in victory. Do you agree there?
B
Well, I think they. They're inextricably linked and very sort of symbiotic relationship between the two, obviously. Right. But Katzenberg said. Jeff Gatzenberg, who I think is such a smart guy, said, and I'm going to paraphrase this, I think he said something like content is king, but distribution is king maker. And I think the deal with Roku and Fox yesterday is sort of emblematic of that. So I think they recognized how important distribution is going forward. Because for years, for the last few years, we haven't really thought about distribution. It used to be our business was based on distribution. Everybody in television, you wanted to go five years for a TV show and then it would go into syndication, off network syndication you'd see on your local TV stations, and then it would get into cable and go through all these windows.
A
And that's where the real money was made.
B
Exactly. And it's ended, right, with the demise of, you know, syndicated television and the vertical integration deals that are being done, you know, by the big media companies, that sort of goes away.
A
Now. You make it for Netflix, it stays on Netflix, at least for now. Some of the others are experimenting more with different windows. But the heyday of Two and a Half Men airing 10 times a day, that's over.
B
That's gone. And same thing with dvd. You think about the DVD business, that's about distribution, right? They aren't making content, they're distributing content. And that went away. But now what you have with distribution is you have data, right? We're getting a ton of data. We aren't getting data. And usually content owners aren't getting a lot of data. I don't have it. I don't own the pipes, right? But now Fox owns the pipes, right? They have both trc, the Roku channel, and they have the. The App Store, you know, that they own. That's their two lines of businesses. And because of that, because of the Roki stick and their integration in huge percentage of households here that now are smart devices, it gives them data that they never had before. And that data helps them buy content because they're a licenser of content. They don't make a lot of content themselves, right. Fox. So they'll buy smarter and they'll sell advertising smarter, better, more effectively. And I think I thought it was bold, really smart move by them.
A
So the important thing there is that Fox is buying not nothing content oriented. They're buying the pipes, they're buying the platform, and they're. They believe that it's worth a $22 billion deal to get in that game. And I kind of agree with them that Fox has been an also ran because they are the quintessential content owner. They have very compelling content in Fox News for that audience and, and for football fans. But beyond that, you know, maybe a hit here and there like World cup going on right now. Fox is not a player and now they are. And it's all because of this distribution that they now have.
B
That's right. That's right. And I think we have to think. I have no idea what's going on in the boardroom. But my sense is they look at Fox News, which is a juggernaut and you know, huge ratings for cable, but that business is dying. Cable is dying.
A
The audience is literally dying.
B
And the audience is aging out. Right. They're getting older too. And the people who are cutting cords, right. Who are no longer subscribers to cable are moving to services like free streaming, like a Roku channel. And they don't watch AVOD is where it's at.
A
Every company wants to have an AVOD service and they see it as the growth engine for the next five to 10 years.
B
Right. So they're going to keep raising your price on ad, free television. Right. And they'll have a strata of people who are probably very affluent and do not care to watch ads. And then most people, I think 90 plus percent people, more than that, 95 plus percent of people are going to have advertising of some sort. Even if it's just when you launch your homepage, there's going to be advertising. People are going to be served up ads because the services can and people are willing to watch it.
A
Well, we have a great test case in what Amazon did because Amazon turned on ads for everybody and you had to affirmatively go to your Prime Video page and turn the ads off and agree to pay more. So the vast majority of Prime Video subscribers, now granted, those are people that are getting the service along with their free shipping. So they are less kind of motivated to make changes there. They for the most part took the ads.
B
Right. Can I just say one more thing about the whole Fox thing? I just thought of something. Sure. You know, their, their audience is not only aging out and there's cord kind of going on the cable. So people who might watch Fox News who are younger have cut the cord, don't have access to Fox News. Okay. Now they do. Right. Because Fox News will be on, be available on Roku. Right. So now you have access. So you may be able to Get a, a younger audience to attract the younger audience, Fox News and extend the life of Fox News. The thing with NFL and I think it's a big problem is they're so reliant on that that there's going to be another licensing period that's going to come up. Right. And they're going to go back into the market. The question is whether or not the NFL does an exclusive deal with broadcaster anymore. Right. Right now they're doing co exclusive deals. Right. But will they do exclusive deal with a streamer going forward or if not, is it co exclusive? And what they do in the short term while the NFL is on Fox linear, they buy exclusive rights to that. They'll be able to put it on the Roku channel or some other channel that they, you know, the Fox Sports channel on Roku. And you know, so you'll have that app. So the people who have cut the cord do not have access to Fox Sports or do not subscribe to YouTube TV, where you have the NFL package, the Sunday ticket. Now you have access to it.
A
Well, they have Fox one. They do, they do have a service now, Fox One, but I don't know how much penetration.
B
They don't have the, I mean unfortunately they don't have the install base that.
A
Right.
B
You know, Roku has that. It's, you know, it's fine. It's a bundle of, of of Fox content, but it's not the same installed base that Roku has.
A
Right. And you're talking about the Sunday NFL packages. And I do think I said this with Lucas, that I think having Roku, if this deal closes, we should caveat that having Roku will give Fox ammunition in those negotiations because they do have a bigger platform and they don't need it as much because they have this, you know, extended platform. Obviously they still need NFL, but it's not an existential question for the company like it would have been if they had just been an NFL and Fox News company.
B
True.
A
And this gets to the question of the power of this distribution because I continue to marvel at the Nielsen chart when it comes out. And a show like La Brea, which was kind of a joke NBC show, it did get three seasons, but it was like a lost ripoff and time travel show that aired during COVID not a huge hit, goes on Netflix immediately shoots to number one. The Netflix audience continuously has shown that it will gobble up older shows when it's put in front of them. And to me that is just such a flex by the distributor. It just shows that in this modern marketplace where all platforms are not created equal like they were in the cable TV era, where you had all of them presented to you at all times on equal footing and you chose which one you wanted to watch. Now the platforms kind of choose for you.
B
Yeah, I mean, look at Suits is a great example of that. Right. When Suits went on there, it's either in the new to the service or even though it's algorithmic, where they place the carousel and what they stack first, like Noon and Netflix or top 10 or whatever it is, depending on what their placement is on that carousel. People watch it. And certainly Suits had not been talked about for years, Right. Had been on the air for years and hadn't been talked about for years and was not getting much play on Peacock. Now all of a sudden it's a top show and people are binging Suits. Same thing for Breaking Bad, right?
A
Yeah, that was the original.
B
It was a very good show, critically acclaimed, but was not very successful. Right? Yeah, but who made it a king? Netflix. And then people. Not only that, they drove viewers over to abc. I mean, excuse me, amc. So it's a very powerful distribution, is a powerful mechanism for making kings.
A
But you control some of those libraries and some of those shows. Can you negotiate in your platform deals to get that carousel placement?
B
We don't distribute ourselves. We use third parties to do our. Even the libraries that we own, we'll use a Sony or Lionsgate or Warner Brothers Universal. Disney will distribute them on our behalf. And so we aren't involved in those negotiations.
A
But have you. Have you. I mean, is that a thing in the licensing world?
B
I haven't heard.
A
I have not heard that. I think that's in the discretion of the platform because they want to control that and they want to be able to say that it's organic, even though we all know it's not.
B
Right? It's not. But I mean, imagine what. We're back to Fox again and Roku. Imagine what they can do with, you know, the Roku, you know, avenue. You know, when you. When you launch onto Roku City, you know, you're going to be able to promote your shows, you're going to be able to promote advertisers, and you're going to get a ton of data, not just about how your content plays on Roku, which they never had before, but they're going to understand how other studios content plays because Roku is an aggregator of other studios content. So they're going to see what works and what doesn't work with their competitors, as long as their competitors keep the content on Roku. Right, Right.
A
They could pull it all off. But it's a pretty powerful platform. You know, you do that at your own peril. Again, reinforcing the power of a distributor like this.
B
True. But you know, we're, we live in a, it's a very competitive environment. You know, we've gone from like 12 companies that were pure play media companies that were greater than $5 billion in valuation 10 years ago to like 6. Right. That are pure play media companies that are greater than $5 billion. So there's been a lot of consolidation and I think with that kind of consolidation, it breeds a lot of competition for, you know, the eyeballs and content. And so I wouldn't necessarily be surprised if someone pulled their content because of that competitive nature between them. Right.
A
Well, I do feel like we've gone away from the walled garden era during COVID though, where it was hoard, hoard, hoard. Now it's make as much money as you want as you can, while you can. This episode is brought to you by Netflix. Presenting Beef from creator, writer and director Lee Seung Jin. The new installment of the eight time Emmy winning anthology series features powerhouse performances from Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton, Cailee Spaeny and legendary Korean actors Yoon Ye Jung and Song Kang Ho. Esquire raves it's hands down the best TV show of the year and IGN hails it a masterpiece. Lee Sung Jin's series remains an untouchable force. Beef for your Emmy Awards consideration. This podcast is brought to you by the Madison from Paramount plus and executive producer Taylor Sheridan. Michelle Pfeiffer shines in this epic drama about resilience, transformation and the family ties that bind. Variety proclaims Michelle Pfeiffer gives a powerhouse performance In a show RogerEbert.com touts as gripping. Emmy eligible in all categories including drama series Michelle Pfeiffer, Outstanding Lead Actress Kurt Russell, Outstanding Supporting Actor and Will Arnett, Outstanding Guest Actor. All episodes available for emmy voters@paramountfyc.com from your perspective as a content owner, does this evolving landscape scare you? Does it show you that this asset that has always been the north star of the entertainment business, owning the content, that it is less important now than perhaps it has ever been on an individual basis? Or do you disagree with that?
B
I disagree. I think like I said at the beginning, I think it's a symbiotic relationship between content and distribution. It's push, pull. Sometimes distribution has more leverage. Sometimes the content owner has leverage.
A
But look at YouTube. Any one piece of content, any thousand, any million pieces of content on YouTube does not matter. It just doesn't. They're so big and so powerful and the engagement machine is just so dominant that you can be Mr. Beast and pull your content and it just doesn't matter for YouTube.
B
True, but there are. There are what, you know, what backrooms and Obsession proved is that you could take someone who is a content creator. Content creator from YouTube and put them on another distribution channel, you know, so to speak, in theatrical distribution and get an audience that YouTube has nothing to do with. Right. They don't participate any step of the way. So I. I don't think. I think YouTube is unbelievable. It's a joggernaut. It is, you know, it is. It is television. I think people fail to realize that what you are watching is television. My child, you know, does not watch traditional television or programming. All of his content is consumed via YouTube, and a lot of it looks like traditional television. But I don't think it's the only place you're going to get your content going forward. And as powerful as they are, and the fact that they take a 45% vig for stuff that they don't own, they don't pay anything for it is pretty amazing. But there's always going to be other distribution channels to compete with YouTube. And there's also the sort of quality level, you know, that, that certain, you know, channels are, you know, HBO is known for. So people gravitate toward HBO because it's got a certain type of quality and it filters through.
A
It just feels like there is going to be a point where your libraries, you're doing deals with YouTube because that's kind of where you need to be.
B
Well, we already do our films. Our films are already on YouTube.
A
Yeah. And. And it. And I guarantee you the economics of that are not as good for you.
B
You know, you'd be surprised that, you know, depending on, you know, like certain content that we have, we're generating an incredible amount of money from YouTube.
A
Okay, that's good to hear.
B
And yes, it's a 45, 55, you know, sort of split on some of that content. But it's not exclusive to YouTube, you know, some. So our distributors are very smart and how they slice and dice the deals to maximize value. So some of the parts is greater than the whole.
A
Okay, well, that's good to hear. You know, the opposite of this. And the argument that content is still king despite the power of these platforms is the behavior of Netflix over the past two years, just the mere fact that Netflix went after Warner Brothers as hard as they did. There was a report this morning from Semaphore saying they're interested in Lionsgate. I don't know how real that interest is. They were in on Roku. Netflix is looking for deals, and the question is, why are they looking for deals? And I think the answer is they need ip, they need library, they need content because they see their engagement slowing.
B
Yeah, I think, look, content's really important to, you know, it's. It's. They can create a great show like Stranger Things and people will flock to it for a period of time, but it doesn't create a lot of library. Right. Because it's just not a lot of episodes versus licensing A Modern Family or Seinfeld or Grey's Anatomy gives him a lot of heft. Right. So it's a very sticky sort of form of content that people will go to, to go through every episode of the show and then repeat it again. It's comfort food. So when you can't find anything, which is quite often for me when I can't find people, spend average 20 minutes trying to find something to watch on these platforms, Netflix included, that you always revert to the comfort food, which is, oh, I'm going to watch an episode of Law and Order, I'll watch an episode of csi. It's more predictable. I know what I'm getting. So, yes, to answer your question, library is really important. So I'm not surprised that they went after Warner Brothers. I think that some of it was just to stir things up with Paramount. I don't think. I think it ended up that they bid up the price. And I think effectively they. They won in certain ways. But the same, you know, they could get a lot of library when they. If they were to buy Lionsgate. Sure.
A
Yeah. It's not the same. That library is not nearly as good as Netflix, and it's a lot of overexploited stuff and schlocky horror and things like that. But the TV library is pretty good. They've got Mad Men and they've got.
B
They distribute a lot of our content, so.
A
Oh, they have some of your content. No offense.
B
They're a great partner of ours.
A
I'm sure they're wonderful. But the. The other thing they have is data. Netflix knows exactly how the Warner's movies perform on the service because they are currently airing some of them. You know, that was the big David Zaslav cash grab, was to start licensing out the Warner's movies and the HBO shows to Netflix to pad the bottom line to pay off their debt. And in the process, they have now given Netflix a lot of data on what exactly performs in the Warner library. And I think that informed a lot of what they were going after there. And if they were to buy a big studio, big studio library, they would be able to get all of the stuff that they've been tracking for years, data wise. That's why I think ultimately, if Sony comes for sale, Netflix will go in on that in a second. They're already in business with Sony on their pay one deal. They know exactly how those movies are performing. They knew so much about that deal that they re upped it for a bunch more money. It's billions of dollars. And if Sony ever became available, Netflix would get that.
B
Yeah, it's that, that's why it's an exciting time, right? So I don't think, you know, I can't say it's distribution or content. You know, both of them have a role and an important role. I think we collectively are beneficiaries of, of, of that content owners or beneficiaries of it. And I think the best is yet to come. Because, you know, imagine what, you know, this relationship we didn't even talk about. Imagine all the advertisers and the relationship with advertisers that Fox brings to Roku in this transaction and the ability to now sell more, you know, you're selling more services, more offerings, more ways to reach eyeballs in a smarter way to The P&GS, the General Motors, the, you know, the big Coca Colas, the big advertisers that they have relationships with. So, yeah, I think that everyone, this is a good time. It's a lot of consolidation going on right now and probably some more that's going to happen, but it's a pretty exciting time.
A
You seem not very disturbed by the power of the platforms. Like you don't. I hear it all the time. You know, we're gonna, we're gonna whittle down to three master platforms that are global, that can just bend everybody over and do whatever they want and it's gonna be awful for content owners. Well, maybe you're an optimistic guy.
B
I don't think it's gonna be that much consolidation, but I hear you right. But we do have the, all these, all these deals, you know, are based on contracts. You, you saw them when you were a lawyer. Those contracts ensure, or supposed to ensure that deals are made on an arm's length basis between distributor and ultimate buyer. And whether even if that's co owned, right. It's owned by the same entity. It's a different pocket in the same pair of pants. And we rely on it. And so far it's been. Even with all the vertical integration, you know, we've been fine.
A
And you sue if they don't.
B
We're not, we're not litigious. We don't sue. We have a conversation, right?
A
Oh, come on. Yes, you do. Arbitration, that's the same thing.
B
We don't. We don't. You don't. We're the nice guys in town. We, we fortunately have enough, we own enough movies that we can, we can ask the right questions and hopefully it's resolved that way. And of course, you audit, you know, as you're right, it's your right to make sure the books are accurate.
A
But before you go, give me a good movie or show that's doing really well right now. I remember you blew me away last time you're on the show talking about white Chicks and how well it does on Netflix. What's doing really well. That would surprise me.
B
I gotta tell you, White Chicks is still doing unbelievably well. We just got some data on white chicks at Netflix. It's unbelievable. That is the. And for those fans of White Chicks and hopefully Craig is a fan of White Chicks because they should have that on the rewatchables. You know, the Wayans would really like and as would we. We'd really like to do a sequel and we're working on that. We've had a lot of inquiries from the studios and streamers about doing it. And it's just finding the time and putting something together. So you know what else does really well, Matt is Black Hawk Down. Ridley Scott produced and directed an incredible movie. Jerry Bruckheimer produced it. It's a great movie and just continues. Same with Made in Manhattan and 13 going on 30. There are a lot of movies that we own that people, Even though they're 20 years old or plus old, they just continue to play well.
A
I for one, am excited about a White Chicks sequel. I would love to see how the Weighins is. Although they're very hot right now with Scary Movie. Maybe you can get that done.
B
It's not for lack of, you know, people interest. We just got to figure it out.
A
All right, so John, in your assessment, who is best positioned right now as one of these big distributors? Is it YouTube and then everybody else? Is it Netflix? Is it Amazon? Who is it in the poll position?
B
I think there Are different in some ways those businesses are so different. YouTube is so different than Netflix in many ways. Right. The user generated content versus these high premium content, whether that's TV shows, films or games. It's just different businesses. So I think in many ways Both Netflix and YouTube are extremely well positioned and I don't see them being dethroned anytime soon. But I think they offer something different to each viewer.
A
And can anyone break that, break into that club? That's the question. You know, you've got these also ran services like Paramount +HBO, Max Peacock. What is the future for them? Consolidation?
B
Well, I think the. I think the integration of Warner Brothers Discovery with Paramount is going to be really interesting to watch. And you know, it's all, it's, it's all in the execution. Right. As they say. I mean, easy for me to say, but I like that management team at Paramount. I think that they have made some really bold moves. They're getting some great assets, incredible content and distribution through Warner Brothers Discovery acquisition and also acquiring great management that they're coming with who run all those divisions. So I think it'll be interesting to see what they do and how they refocus Pluto, which I think is a gem that is inside of the Paramount assets. The free service that they have bought. All these businesses, they can really focus on that. It'll be interesting. I'm looking. That's exciting.
A
All right, well, we will have you back. We're going to get you that five Timer mug at some point. Thanks for coming on.
B
Okay, thank you. Thanks for having me.
A
We are back with the call sheet. Craig, Toy Story 5. This one is going to be really hard to predict. Like it once you get up over 100, 150, like all bets are off on this one.
C
Yeah. I mean if it opens to 160, which is the tracking, it would be the third largest domestic opening for an animated film ever. Lion King from 2019 is in first and Incredibles 2 open to 182 in 2018. So this would be third and it
A
would be a big improvement over Toy Story 4, which came out in 2019 and had that opening was 120.1.
C
I just think, I think the premise of this movie is so much bigger and broader than Toy Story 4. Like the whole iPad, the tech versus the toys, plus the Taylor Swift.
A
Yeah, the Taylor Swift factor is meaningful.
C
Yeah, definitely can't hurt. It is.
A
It just is.
C
Yeah. There will be probably a lot of people who love Taylor Swift who might not have gone to see this in the Opening weekend. That will now.
A
Yeah, I know. A lot of curiosity. I, I, I got to take the over. Right? Like, how do you bet against Toy Story? It is the premier animated franchise, that and Minions, which is coming out later this summer. And it's, I mean, could it get to Incredibles 2? I don't know. This is the fifth movie. Like, you'd think that interest would be waning at least a little bit. But I think they've reinvigorated it with this amazing iPad premise. Like, it's just, it's just a great idea.
C
Well, and what's nice about Toy story is the IP is not watered down at all. There's no TV shows. There's no, it is just every seven to 10 years, there's a new movie, which is very smart. I mean, Toy Story 4 came out in 2019, so it's been seven years. I guess the question would be how high would the number have to be for you to take the under? Like, if it was 170, 180.
A
If it was 180, I would take the under.
C
Okay, so you think anything under 180 is in play?
A
I think so, yes.
B
Yeah.
A
And I think maybe the World cup game, the US Game on Friday, hurts it a little bit. It has the benefit of Friday being a Juneteenth holiday. It's a federal holiday, so maybe people will be out and willing to go to movies. But there is a daytime game, the, the World cup game, that might hurt it a little. I don't know. I just think that if you have kids and you grew up with this franchise, now there's like, two, three generations of people that have grown up with this. You're going. You got to go.
B
Yeah. Yeah.
C
It is the ultimate millennial ip.
A
Forget millennial. It's like Gen X. Like, I was, you know, I was in college when this movie came out, and we all went opening weekend. Like, when the original came out. Like, this is 30, 31 years now of Toy Story. It's kind of amazing.
C
Every young parent to old parent has a relationship with Toy Story.
A
Totally. And we're all just going to forget about Lightyear a couple years ago. Didn't happen. Didn't happen.
C
And the reviews for Toy Story 5 seem to be good. Yeah, it'll be massive. I think we easily take the over on 160.
A
Yeah, we're not going to talk about this anymore because we're both taking the over. And if we.
C
And you're seeing it this weekend, right?
A
Oh, yeah, I'm seeing it Friday afternoon. Are you kidding?
C
There you go.
A
Malpractice. You get taken to court by your own kids if you don't go. So we're going. All right. That's the show for today. I want to thank my guest, John Mass, producer Craig Horbeck, artists Jesse Lopez and Matt Pevik. And I want to thank you. We'll see you one more time this week.
D
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Podcast: The Town with Matthew Belloni
Host: Matthew Belloni (The Ringer)
Guest: John Mass (President, Content Partners)
Date: June 17, 2026
Episode Theme:
This episode tackles the longstanding debate of whether "content is king" in Hollywood still holds true, or if global platforms and distributors have now seized the throne. Matthew Belloni and guest John Mass examine how the balance of power has shifted in the entertainment industry, especially in light of major industry moves like Fox’s acquisition of Roku. The conversation explores the evolving dynamics between content creators and the platforms that control viewer access and engagement.
“You need great content and a lot of it to be a player in entertainment. But ultimately the platforms are now the gatekeepers and they own that audience.”
— Matthew Belloni (02:20)
“They [Fox] recognized how important distribution is going forward... Now Fox owns the pipes.”
— John Mass (06:26)
“A show like La Brea... goes on Netflix, immediately shoots to number one. That's just such a flex by the distributor.”
— Matthew Belloni (11:46)
“When you can't find anything... you always revert to the comfort food, which is, oh, I'm going to watch an episode of Law and Order...”
— John Mass (20:31)
“Both Netflix and YouTube are extremely well positioned and I don’t see them being dethroned anytime soon. But I think they offer something different to each viewer.”
— John Mass (27:05)
“Now the platforms kind of choose for you.”
— Matthew Belloni (12:47)
“Because of the [Roku] stick and their integration in huge percentage of households... it gives them data they never had before.”
— John Mass (06:26)
“Every company wants to have an AVOD service and they see it as the growth engine for the next five to ten years.”
— Matthew Belloni (08:35)
“Even though they're 20 years old or plus old, they just continue to play well.”
— John Mass, on catalog hits like White Chicks, Black Hawk Down (25:46)
“It's a pretty exciting time... there's a lot of consolidation going on right now and probably some more that's going to happen, but it's a pretty exciting time.”
— John Mass (23:13)
The conversation balances sharp industry critique with cautious optimism. While Belloni is occasionally skeptical about the growing dominance of platforms, Mass remains pragmatic – seeing opportunity for content owners even as platforms amass more control. There’s a friendly back-and-forth, lightened by in-jokes about guests receiving “Five Timer” show mugs and shoutouts to cult-favorite films (White Chicks).
For listeners seeking an insider overview of Hollywood’s evolving battleground, this episode delivers a nuanced, data-driven, and accessible analysis of where value and power currently reside — and where they’re likely headed next.