28 Sep What’s a Subscriber? The Writers Deal Makes That Question Even More Important [The Hollywood Reporter]
BY ALEX WEPRIN
September 28, 2023 | So, what’s a subscriber, anyway?
With the Writers Guild of America‘s interim agreement details revealed, the stakes are high on figuring that out. The guild’s deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers breaks new ground when it comes to streaming residuals, with writers set to get healthy bonuses if a specified success metric is hit.
“The success-based residual will pay writers of streaming series and movies a bonus if the equivalent of 20 percent or more of a streaming service’s U.S. subscribers watch it within three months of release,” as The Hollywood Reporter’s Rick Porter explained it.
A “view” in this case means the total viewing time divided by its running time, a metric that can be applied fairly easily across streaming services. Importantly, those success bonuses will rely not only on the “view,” but on subscribers as well. And that’s where things get tricky.