By Hernan Lopez.
Companies mentioned: Apple, Anthropic, Bytedance, CNBC, Disney, HBO, Hulu, iHeartMedia, Netflix, Paramount, Peacock, Sony, Spotify, Tubi, Warner Bros., YouTube
Questions answered: Is Owl & Co hiring? What’s the difference between microdramas, Vertical Video, and short-form? What’s the connection between the SAASpocalypse and media stocks?
Special note 1: This is a public version of the Streamonomics® newsletter. I send an exclusive version to Owl & Co clients one day in advance, which includes more in-depth analysis, access to Owl & Co proprietary research, and additional charts. If you work for an Owl & Co client (or would like to become one), just hit reply.
Special note 2: Since the near entirety of the newsletter was edited Monday night, I didn’t include any commentary on the in-flux War for Warners, but we did update our timeline (see below).
In 1996, HBO told the world: "It's not TV. It's HBO."
In 2025, YouTube said: "YouTube IS TV."
Both statements were acts of positioning genius. HBO was telling premium subscribers they were buying something above television: prestige that justified a monthly fee on top of cable. YouTube was telling advertisers the opposite: that the biggest screen in the house now belonged to them, and they should spend on it like it's TV (which, for the most part, they still don't).