> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.popcast.co/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Why is Hollywood Destroying Your Favorite Franchises? It's a Math Equation! - URL: https://www.popcast.co/why-is-hollywood-destroying-your-favorite-franchises-its-a-math-equation/ - Published: 2026-10-30T19:20:13.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-30T19:44:18.000Z - Author: Shane Montgomery - Tags: Streaming, opinion I was invited to a preview screening for an upcoming project that my NDA won't let me reveal, but going through the process I learned something that I've always known, but had no idea Hollywood took it this serious. And the thing that surprised me was that I had almost aged out of being invited to these previews. 54 years old. I joked that I had nearly aged out and the attendant didn't laugh and asked to see my I.D. again. "I'm still 53," I said. What would you kick me out of here if I was 54?" The deadpan answer was, YES. He wasn't joking. There were only so many seats in this theater and they weren't going to waste it on someone outside of the 17 to 53 demographic and from what I learned, they were hoping for for most of the viewers to be in the youngest age bracket, 17 to 30\. More than anything else, they wanted to know what they thought and they could care less what the older generations cared about. So I went deeper and what I learned finally answered the question we've wanted to know for years: Why are studios seemingly destroying long time franchises like Star Trek, Star Wars and now Stargate when there are millions upon millions of fans of these IPs world0wide that would happily pay them money for new good shows based on original canon. And the answer to that question was genuinely surprising. They Believe They Already Have Us... That's right. The studios believe that we are already subscribed to their streaming services and therefore don't have to pander to long time fans to get their money. We are already watching Legacy Star Trek shows like The Next Generation on their platforms. We're still watching the first 6 episodes of Star Wars. We're still watching Stargate SG1, Atlantis and Universe. They can see viewers are already subscribed for that, so making new shows for them won't bring them any new subscribers. And the only metric that matters to studios today is the new subscriber. Why? The new subscriber is the the most important metric to streamers because it's an A1 line item for investors and advertisers alike. And those subscriber numbers need to always go up to keep money flowing into their businesses. Let's do the Math and use Star Trek as an example. Let's say there are 10 Million Star Trek fans around the world. There are a lot more, but this number is easy for the example. Streamers believe that most of those 10 Million fans are already subscribed to their platform watching the older programs they love. IF they make a new Star Trek show targeting that demographic, perhaps they bring in another 100,000 curious new long-time fans who weren't subscribed. BUT, if they targeted a younger audience, they could bring in perhaps 1 million new "curious" subscribers who have heard of the Brand Name. Sure, the long time fans may not like it, but they won't stop subscribing to watch their old shows. And they have made it known that old fans will likely give in and watch it anyway or hate watch it, which makes the studio the same amount of money regardless. So by that math and thinking, you can see why studios are doing this. 10 Million old fans + 100,000 new old fans = an increase of 1% subscribers 10 Million old fans +1 Million new fans = an increase of 10% subscribers They simply make more money this way. And they believe they are paving the road for a new generation of paying subscribers. Forget the fact that most of these young people are watching off their parents subscriptions, the streamers believe they are the audience of the future. This all started back in 2017 when Jason Isaacs, who starred in Star Trek Discovery, made it obvious how studio insiders felt about legacy fans. He said, "I don't mean to sound irreverent when i say I don't care about the die hard Trek fans. I only don't care about them in the sense that I know they are going to watch anyway. The fun of them being outraged so they can sit up all night and talk about it with each other." This was the same year Star Wars' Kathleen Kennedy started building out a who universe of Star Wars tv shows that she would proudly advertise the force as being female. And while there are many examples, Amazon's choice to fire OG Stargate creators to go in a "new younger direction" is just the latest in a series of choices that make it obvious streamers don't care about the fan... they care about the money. So what can you do to let streamers know you aren't okay with this? Break out your hard media when you want to watch your legacy shows and when you unsubscribe from their platforms, make sure you tell them why. Your new show was not made with old fans in mind and I am not going to keep paying you just to watch the shows I love. Streamers are doing this because they don't have to follow the old TV model of advertising. It used to be when a show aired for 26 episodes, the network had to get advertisers to pay for the show. The better quality the show, the more or better advertisers. And this helped shows stay on the air for years. In today's streaming environment, after subscribers, advertiser dollars drive the programming, but because advertisers no longer bid on specific programs, they are instead advertising across the streaming platform and it no longer matters how good a single show is... just how well the platform as a whole is performing. The light at the end of the tunnel is this. Once streamers have maxed out subscribers and ad tiers, the only thing they can do to make more money will be to allow advertisers to buy directly onto specific shows for premium ad revenue. Once that happens not only should we get better programming, but we should also get longer season with more episodes. Which everyone would agree is a win. So the next time you are wondering why Hollywood is making new shows that old fans will hate, just remember that they value Money over art, so perhaps your hard earned money could be spent some where else.