Thanks for one of the best articles I have ever read on Medium. Your graphic concerning "cost" and "appeal" was a revelation by itself. I was really surprised at how badly comedies scored on appeal--though, upon reflection, what counts as 'humorous' is a particular thing.

Basically, it seems that the problem for all of Netflix's competitors is that the leadership there had the good sense to press its initial advantage relentlessly--while paying attention to people's tastes and preferences as revealed by their viewing habits within Netflix.

Unfortunately for actual art, the general public turns out to be people with a preference for tasteless, superficial sensationalism to distract them from the ultimately even uglier, overwhelming realties of the actual real word these days. 'True crime' and 'reality' programming are absolutely, positively guaranteed to require nothing of the viewer but to sit there and watch. Any other kind of content requires some further engagement of some kind. That those are the cheapest forms of content to produce is a big bonus for their producers.