When the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA emerged from their contentious contract negotiations last year, they were left with a unique, success-based residual payment for popular streaming content.
Writers share their leftovers via streaming
The guilds’ new contracts with the studios mandate an additional payout for titles that achieve the equivalent of views from 20% of their platform’s domestic subscribers in the first 90 days of availability. It’s a high bar to qualify for, to be sure, but the mere existence of the success provision was seen as a major victory for the unions, as was the required data disclosure that came with it.
If we take the first six months of eligible shows as an example, there's still a long way to go before residual funds become a reliable source of income for many creatives.
Using data from Luminate’s Streaming Viewership (M) product, Variety Intelligence Platform’s new special report, “The Postwar Streaming Market,” sheds light on which H1 2024 streaming hits were eligible for the residual payment – and which weren’t.
