We’re already over three months into the largest Hollywood strike in decades, the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) sat back down at the table with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) on Friday to resume negotiations.

With earnings suffering, Netflix and Disney may be forcing the industry group to soften its approach with the unions, which have expressed their intent to keep striking until their demands are met. Initially intending to rely on banked content, dearth of new content is beginning to catch up with giant streaming services and affect the broader streaming landscape.
According to a recent Guideline survey, ad spending on reruns jumped to 79% in June, while spending on new content dropped to 21%—its lowest since the pandemic and down 10% from May.

Without new material to promote, companies that are new to the ad-supported streaming space could have trouble getting big advertisers to sign on to their platforms. Both Disney and Netflix have expressed disappointment that their ad-supported tiers are taking a long time to meaningfully generate revenues—a lack of blockbuster content could worsen their ability to get large advertisers on board to turn a profit.

Higher spending on reruns is a boon for both streamers and linear TV networks during the strike, but going too long without new content could cause advertisers to divert spending to other media formats. Meanwhile, other (cheaper) formats are getting more attention. Retail media is one of the fastest-growing digital advertising channels, totaling $45.15 billion in spending this year and more than $100 billion by 2027.